Intake Interview

We met our caseworker on Monday afternoon. Her name is Kate and she's grate. Ha ha! But seriously, she is great and she put on the impression that she thinks we're great, too.
The interview started by her going over the "Adoption Description of Services" document with us. Although we'd already read through it, it was nice to go over it with her and clarify a few of our concerns. One of them was concerning what they call "pass-through" expenses which are expenses the birthmother incurs during the pregnancy and up to 90 days post-partum. We were a little leery about paying for someones expenses without a guarantee that we'd get a baby in the end. From what we learned, LDS Family Services makes sure that sort of thing doesn't happen.

After we went over all the legal stuff (And by "legal stuff" I mean just the stuff in the document. There is a ton more legal stuff we haven't learned yet.), she asked us some questions to get to know us and to give her the information she needs in order to present us to the board and have us approved for actually starting the process.
The questions I remember were:

How did you meet? (It was a dark and stormy night. West High's football team was on the track for another amazing season despite the torrential downpour that was driving all the fans to go back to their warm, dry homes. Everyone, that is, except Zack and Nate.... Or, if you prefer the short story: Zack's best friend's sister is Carrie's father's brother's son's wife...you know how it goes.)

Why have you decided to adopt? (We like to do what Heavenly Father and Jesus want us to do. Thanks, Andrew!)

What are your families like? (We totally aced this question! HOLLA families!)

What do you expect from this process? (Um....a baby? Actually, we didn't quite know how to answer this one. We're not sure what to expect from this process. We have no idea how our family is going to grow. Since we are open to special needs adoption our expectations are so wide we're not sure what's going to happen. So basically, we expect to learn a lot and to be guided to what we're supposed to be doing throughout the whole process. Hopefully there's another party out there somewhere who is also letting the spirit guide them in what they're supposed to do. If we're all trying to follow the spirit and do what Heavenly Father wants us to do, then we'll all become connected and babies will go where Heavenly Father wants them to go. That's what I expect, or a better word would be hope, from this process.)

After the little question and answer session Kate let us know that she would present our case to the board on Wednesday. If we're approved, we'll be contacted by a lady named Susan who will put us on the track to getting all this crazy paperwork done. Lucky for us it's mostly done online. We are so good at getting things done online!

We also learned that the 7 week class we're supposed to take (which felt like the biggest obstacle to getting this stuff done quickly) is now only a 2 night class. The good news is that the class is next Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7-8! The bad news is if they don't have enough couples sign up, they'll have to postpone it until the beginning of January. January!? We can't wait two whole months!!!! So, if any of you feel like considering adoption, attending the class and then changing your mind afterwards...heh heh...

So, we can now check off "intake interview" on our list of things to do. Yea for us!

*Side note. While we were talking to Kate and getting ready to leave, I asked her where she lived. You know, just friendly conversation. She'd already shared how she and her husband met and a few things about herself so I didn't think it was a strange question. But as I started asking her, I thought for a minute that SHE might think it was a strange question. So to allay any fears she might have by me asking personal information about her, I asked her like this: "So where do you live? ...not that we want to stalk you or anything..."

Doesn't that just allay all fears? See, I DON'T want to stalk you. And I'm telling you that so you'll know that stalking is definitely NOT something that I want to do to you in the future. And it didn't even cross my mind. I don't even know HOW to stalk someone. It's not like I've made a how-to video on the proper way to stalk people...

I'll shut up now.