Who's Your Daddy?

Just found out the person placing J for adoption actually doesn't have the rights to do that! He's only his legal guardian - not legal parent. So, the $1000 spent on a social worker meeting with him to sign over his rights was a complete waste of money. And now no one knows who has jurisdiction. He's technically an orphan. His records are sealed so our lawyer can't find out if the birthmother still has rights. Only a court order will open them. His "legal guardian" can nominate us as new guardians, but he's in surgery today. If he doesn't make it, then J goes into foster care tomorrow. If he does assign us as guardians, J can stay with us but we have to wait a year before applying to adopt.

Back on Track!

We took a detour for a little bit, but are back on track to adopt! We met with our contact at LDS Family Services today to get up to speed on our paperwork. It can all be done online now, which is great! It makes it easy and will move us along the path quickly. It's been an emotional road with lots of prayers. We're not quite sure how it will all play out; we're taking a step into the darkness, but we feel so strongly about this and know it's the right choice for our family.

We'll be sure to keep you all updated on our progress. Thanks for all your support!

Due to the interest of so many of you, I've posted the list of requirements as part of the "Adoption Study Process." Just click on the image to zoom in.

We have the majority of the items on the list finished! It may seem that we're moving along quickly; however, the items we have left to due are also the most time-involving requirements. We'll keep everyone apprised of our progress.

For those of you who don't know, James and I have begun the adoption process! We're so excited! After a lot of research, we have decided to go through LDS Family Services. Here's a quick rundown of the adoption process for us:

It will take about 3 months of preparation before our profile will be available for birth mothers to view. During these 3 months we have LOTS of paperwork, interviews and certifications we must go through.

- in our paperwork we have to list things like the heights of the shortest and tallest male and female in our immediate families plus list all of our siblings with their degrees, occupations, detailed physical descriptions, talents, hobbies and ages. And that's just the beginning. These types of questions go on for pages and pages. :)

- We specify our preferences about the child that may be placed with us. Things like their age, race and any medical conditions of the baby or birth parents that we're comfortable with accepting into our lives. This is also where we specify the type of contact, if any, that we want with the birth mother. Very important stuff.

- 12 Hours of Foster Care Training (because we'll technically be foster parents for the first 6 months), plus becoming CPR and First Aid certified by American Red Cross and having a physical exam by our doctor.

- Floor plans of our home and yard. Baby-proofing and an in-home inspection and interview.

- Detailed financial statements. The adoption fees are 10% of your income up to $10,000 per child. If we are placed with twins or triplets, this could be up to $30,000.

- An online profile with our information and photos. Plus, a letter written to the prospective birth mother.

- Fingerprinting, background checks, reference letters and a Bishop's Recommendation letter

After we finish everything above, we're ready to have our profile posted online and at all of the LDS Family Services agencies across the country. Our local agency said that couples wait between 6 - 18 months before being placed with a baby.

As you can see, this is a very detailed and very involved process. We've come to appreciate, however, what legnths we have to go through to have a child. I can see how this prepares us as parents to really know and understand what we're getting into and to really evaluate our level of commitment. I wonder how many people would have children if they had to go through all this! :)

We'll be posting a link to our online profile when it's available. We'd like to ask any and all of you to let others know that we're looking to adopt. The more people that know, the better our chances.

We'd like to thank everyone that has helped us already in this process. All those that wrote reference letters and provided insightful information and prayers, we appreciate it so much!