My husband and I are in the process of adopting a child from the Iowa Foster Care system. We first started thinking about this several years ago, and we have been waiting for the right time in our lives to make it happen.
Here is a timeline of what we’ve gone through so far:
Fall of 2005 – Casually mentioned adoption as something we would do “someday.” But it had to be a boy, and he had to be in school already. We put the thoughts on hold, and considered it something MAYBE we would look into in the future.
2/8/07 – The first sign that God was leading us to this.
2/15/07 – The second sign that God was leading us in the direction of helping and caring for children.
2/19/07 – God decided to just hit us over the head with this third sign, just in case the last two went unnoticed.
For the next couple years, we put the idea on a back burner. There were some things going on in our lives that needed to be resolved before we could think about adding another family member, but this whole entire time? God’s been working!
1/8/10 – God decided it was time for us to start thinking about things again.
1/11/10 – Seriously, these aren’t just ‘signs’ anymore! This is getting REAL.
1/12/10 – Called Iowa KidsNet to request the paperwork to get started on the process. Seriously, God, we got your message loud and clear!
1/21/10 – We went to JAIL.
1/30/10 – Attended our first informational meeting
2/10/10 – Paperwork and fingerprints were approved, and we were contacted to sign up for classes — in MAY 2010.
May 2010 – A couple things happened in our lives that made us decide to postpone the process for a while. We had an issue going on with one of our children, and then out of the blue– I was contacted by the adoption agency I worked with in 1992 when I placed my baby for adoption. All of this was such a whirlwind for us… we decided it just wasn’t the right time to begin classes.
4/12/11 – Things have come full circle and we are ready to try again.
4/13/11 – Requested a new set of paperwork to start the process again.
4/21/11 – We had a family meeting to discuss our plans.
4/23/11 – Discussed our plans with my parents. They are totally on board. Husband is not yet ready to talk to his family yet.
4/25/11 – We know we will probably be adopting a child of a different race than ours.
6/14/11 – We were unable to attend the informational meeting due to conflicts with our kids schedules. It was rescheduled for August 9th, the next opening they had available.
7/7/11 – I learned a valuable lesson about not getting my heart set on a particular child yet.
7/9/11 – We are getting very used to waiting.
8/9/11 – Attended informational meeting at Lutheran Services of Iowa to hear more about the foster care/adoption process. Turned in our completed paperwork.
8/9/11 – Fingerprints done at Dallas County Jail.
9/1/11 – Got the call from Iowa KidsNet that we were APPROVED, and could sign up for PS-MAPP classes anytime. Our classes start October 18th!
10/5/11 – Got confirmation of our class registration along with a list of required items to bring to class. The paperwork has officially started!
10/11/11 – Made our adoption “Facebook Official”!
10/12/11 – Courtney’s physical completed for homestudy
10/18/11 – First PS-MAPP class! A class of 22 people!
10/25/11 – Class #2 Completed!
11/1/11 – Class #3 Completed. We’re down to 20 members now.
11/8/11 – Class #4 Done!
11/15/11 – We’re halfway done! Class #5 completed!
11/22/11 – Class #6 Done!
11/28/11 – First homestudy visit
11/29/11 – Class #7 Done!
12/6/11 – Class #8
12/13/11 – Class #9
12/16/11 – Second homestudy visit
12/20/11 - Class #10
12/21/11 – Third and final homestudy visit
1/25/12- Our caseworker sent us a list of criteria we needed to decide on. She indicated that our paperwork would be completed 1/26/12.
1/30/12 – Our home study and other paperwork was submitted today! After speaking with two other couples that were in our class, our license should be approved and in our hands as early as the end of this week!
2/4/12 – We received our license in the mail today, effective February 3rd!
2/6/12 – Received our first call about a foster placement.
2/13/12 - Got another call about a pre-adoptive placement– 4 year old girl and 2 year old boy. Again, had to say NO (only one bedroom available).
