Evaluation of American Adoptions (Home Study)

I believe it is important for adoptive parents to share as much information about their journey as possible in order to assist those on the journey and those who will come after. Joe and I are so grateful for those parents who shared their evaluations, of their agency, home study provider, country, translator, and many more. So, we would like to offer our evaluation of our home study provider. We used American Adoptions (1-800-ADOPTION; www.americanadoption.com). We completed our application and sent our payment at the end of April. We were contacted on May1st to set up our appointments. The first appointment was on May 10th. At this time we were interviewed seperately.

The second appointment was supposed to be on May 17th, but our social worker needed to change the appointment and we did once as well, so it occured on May 25th. At this time we had our "couple" interview and home inspection. Everything went smoothly. The woman conducting our home study was very nice and made us feel comfortable throughout the process.

We received our homestudy documents on July3rd. After carefully reading through the documents we were very upset to discover that there were a few MAJOR mistakes. Our social security numbers were wrong and several sections referred to us as "Susan" and "Bill". I contacted our home study coordinator immeditely and she promptly returned my call. She apologized and informed me that the corrections would be made asap and sent out immediately. I also follwed up with a detailed e-mail to the social worker who conducted the home study outlining the changes that needed to be made.

We received all of the corrected documents today (July 12th) and everything is in order. If we calculate the time it took to complete from the first interview date (May 10th) it took nine weeks to get our completed home study. This time frame seems to be in line with others I have heard. However, the agency does advertise that their "turn around time for the home study is four to six weeks...assuming that the background checks are complete." If turn around time is considered from the last visit to the day you receive the home study, then it would have been exactly six weeks if no errors existed. Time sensitivity is extremely important to us, as well as the rest of you on this tedious paperwork journey. So, if that time frame is better than others have quoted to you that may be something you take into account if you are looking for a home study provider or you are considering using American Adoptions. Overall, their services were very good. Everyone was professional and courteous to us at all times. When there was a problem they fixed it is a timely fashion.

Dossier Nearly Done!

We are about to cross the finish line of the paper chase! We have some final documents to notarize and apostille and off it will go for translation! One step closer...each step brings more hope and excitment. Joe looks at this waiting time as the equivalent of a pregnancy. I agree, but the hard part is if we were pregnant we would be in control (somewhat) in that we would know exactly where our baby was and be in control of caring for him/her in utero. Having your baby in an orphanage brings an entirely different level of anxiety and worry over his level of care. I find tremendous inspiration in the stories of other families that have shared their journey on Yahoo groups and their own personal blogs. It is amazing how their little ones flourish once they are home!

Comments About the Room

I was so happy when the furniture came today! It was a lot of work, but certainly a labor of love. The two most time consuming parts of the room were the floor and the painting (including the stenciling). The chalkboard door with the cork trim is still a work in progress.

I am a bit annoyed with the quality of the pictures...taken on a brand new digital camera. I use Picasa and adjusted the quality, color, light, etc...but for some reason the saved photos in "My Pictures" do not reflect the changes. The room looks a little peach, which it is not. The color is called Buttered Toffee - it's basically a very soft khaki color. Overall, we are both thrilled with the room and are anxiously awaiting the day we can put him to sleep in his new bed! Enjoy the pics!

Alexander's Room

Happy 4th of July!

First, I can't believe how fast the time goes...and yet it never feels fast enough when you are on the adoption journey. Every day is another day missed with your child. Most days I am pretty optimistic and daily life keeps your mind off the fact that you don't have your child home yet, but sometimes, well...imagine being pregnant and not knowing a due date - not even a month! Our son's room is near complete. It really is cute. Joe surprised me the other day with two new additions for his room: a lamp with giraffes and elephants and the matching bookends. They really are adorable. The "jungle" theme worked out well...it is not too overwhelming, but each thing in his room coordinates somehow. Again, I'll post pictures as soon as I stop being lazy and download them from my desktop. Promises, promises...lol.

The rest of the house has been made over too! Well, I think the house is always a work in progress, but knowing we will have a toddler to look after soon sort of puts a match under you to tie up loose ends. The outside looks beautiful. We had pavers put down on the driveway and a patio created in pavers. We were daydreaming today about the next fourth of July spent with our son on the patio watching the fireworks...sigh. The inside of the house is really looking great. Our last major project will be the bathroom. Also, Joe and I are going to attempt to make the basement as livable as possible just for some extra space for play, etc..

Once our home study was complete it was a waiting game for the report and favorable recommendation. We just got the final report in the mail on Monday and I was pretty annoyed when reading it and discovered that our social security numbers were wrong and several pages called me Susan and some referred to Joe as Bill. Needless to say, I called the supervisor and she assured me that the corrections would be made asap. It amazes me that these things could get past not just the person writing the report, but her supervisor as well! A few mistakes would be understandable, but certainly not names and social security numbers! Furthermore, this is such a time sensitve process with a child's life on the other end of all the "crap" that needs to be in order to get him home. You want things like this to be at a minimum. I can't complain too much though - our home study agency has been quicker than I have heard others report in time to turn it around.

So, that's all for now! Back to work tomorrow, fun, fun, fun - lol.