Anyone who has ever adopted or known someone who has understands what it is to dread the homestudy. For those who don't, the homestudy is essentially an endless process of signing documents and collecting paperwork about every detail of your life to be handed over to a social worker. This all concludes with a series of interviews and a home inspection, then they issue a report with a pass/fail for becoming an adoptive parent. I certainly understand the spirit of the homestudy - in fact, some argue they should create something like this for biological parents, but I don't think that would hold up in court. They place a big emphasis on parents being ready before the child comes home, it would be nice to see them also offer more help for parents after they are actually parenting.
In any case, yesterday we had the joy of inviting two social workers into our home for the interviews and home inspection. Ironically, I thought things went much more smoothly than I expected, even though I was the one stressing about the inspection and Vanessa was asked some of the more difficult and thought provoking questions about parenting styles and our relationship. In the end, I think we will receive pretty positive remarks. The nice thing about international adoption is that the social workers come from a private non-profit organization who's goal is to help families adopt as opposed to the county bureaucrats who guard the foster care system.
Another hurdle down. We should receive the final results of our homestudy report by the end of the week. Two weeks ago, we sent in documentation to the Department of Homeland Security to pre-approve visa status for our child. Now we are just waiting for their approval, which can take up to three months, and then we wait for a child referral. Continue to pray for God's mercy during this time of waiting.
