One year ago today I dropped my initial application to my adoption agency older child adoption program in the mail. Within two weeks I’d met with the program director and since a PRIDE course was about to start, I was able to jump right onto a fast track. I had the pre-home study paperwork in the mail by early April and my home study visits started in May. My home study was finalized on June 28th.
On June 30th my agency sent Hope’s profile. It was the first profile that I received in my search. An excerpt from the original email:
“Her profile and caseworker have shared that she is funny and charming, likes swimming, singing, step and going to church, and does well with family pets…She is eager to have a mother.”
I received profiles after Hope’s, but I only had to formally say no to one on August 16th. The First (and only) No broke my heart.
On August 27th, all the decision makers had a conference call about me and Hope. Apparently they didn’t have an available conference phone in Washington so this was our rigged conference.
I said yes to the invitation to adopt Hope on August 29th, just 34 weeks after I started this process.
We’ve traveled many miles and talked many hours on the phone since August 29th. On Christmas Eve she tried out calling me Mom for the first time. It’s been a really, really emotional time. And it’s about to get really, real!
Today, just one year after it all started, the ICPC came through. Hope is moving to VA in two weeks, and our plan is to finalize the adoption by the end of June.
It is exciting and scary and amazing and scary and love and just really, really cool (first understatement of the year).
So, I’ve got two weeks of childlessness to push out most of the rest of this dissertation and start the next chapter.
Happy New Year,
ABM
AdoptiveBlackMom 