Thanks to all of our family and friends who have been supportive on our adoption journey thus far. Although it seems like all the work is done, the tough part is just beginning.
For those of you who don't know, we applied for domestic adoption through Catholic Charties. For the past several months we have been completing paperwork, collecting references, getting our backgrounds checked (nothing exciting there), and meeting with a social worker. It is now official, we have jumped through all the hoops to the agency's satisfaction! All that is left is to wait.
We put together a profile, which you can view online. The original is with the agency. When someone comes in who is considering placing an infant for adoption, the agency will take them through the counseling process and then they will look through the profiles of all the couples in the pool (right now there are around 15). They choose one of the couples that they would most like to meet. If that happens to be us, then we meet at the agency to get to know each other. If they like us, they can then ask us to be the parents of their baby. I don't know if anyone ever answers "no" to this question, but it's always an option. We certainly hope that we meet the birth parents, feel very comfortable with each other and can't wait to see each other again. Because this is going to be an open adoption, that would be the ideal case scenario. Everyone wants to have extended family that they love and enjoy, and through open adoption we will be growing our family by more than just one child. We will be adding their extended family as well, and feel it is important to our child's sense of identity for them to remain connected to some extent with their biological roots.
This has been open adoption 101. If you feel the desire to learn more, feel free to contact us with any questions. We plan to post periodic updates here on the adoption process.
Of course, if you hear of anyone who is pregnant and considering adoption, feel free to send them to our website or to Caritas Family Services. We have several friends who have chosen adoption for their babies and they are very strong, loving people who we really admire. They, along with our friends who have children through open adoption, have made us confident that this process is the way we were meant to grow our family.
Thanks again for your love and support!