Things are progressing very positively for us. We have submitted most of the paperwork required for our home study. As of now we are waiting for the responses to our requests for background checks and financial information from the IRS. We also have upcoming appointments for our physical exams. Once we have these things completed we will have home visits with our social worker, Jillian. We have met her by phone and she seems to be delightful and we look forward to meeting her in person.
Today we went to the Bethany office and participated in our first, and also required, domestic adoption support group. There we met the birth mother counselor and the adoptive partent counselor. The experience was very enlightening and inspiring. Most of the meeting focused on the perspective of the birth mother and the hardships that she endures giving up her baby. The social worker shared many stories of her experiences with the birth mothers. We have always selfishly given ALL of our consideration in this process to our own challenges with infertility and none to the selflessness of the decision that the birth mother is making. Wow! It was quite eye-opening to learn of the emotional hardship that these women and young girls experience. We learned that in most cases the birth mothers have a completely unselfish and endless love for this baby and are making this decision knowing that they cannot provide the life that they want that child to have and out of love, they commit that child's life to adoptive parents. Interestingly enough, we learned that many of the birth mothers are very particular about what they want for their baby and that they have criteria in choosing adoptive parents for their baby just the same as we have criteria in choosing the type of child we want. It was quite amazing to hear this perspective.
We are thankful to be working with an agency that really focuses on protecting and advocating for both the birth mother and for the adoptive parents! Thank the Lord we have had another experience that confirms that we made the right decsion in choosing Bethany.
We hope that you are enjoying reading about and following our journey. Please don't hesitate to ask questions or make comments. We love hearing from you!
With love,
Amy & David
Education: Interstate Adoptions
When we receive our baby it will most likely be from our region, which includes eastern Ohio. If we receive a baby from OH, then anything pertaining to the baby would be in accordance with OH laws, and anything pertaining to us as the adoptive parents would be in accordance with PA laws. The social workers we will be working with are highly knowledgeable of the law of both states.
If we should receive a baby from OH, then the baby must remain in the state of OH until both states have consented to the interstate adoption. Historically OH takes about 2-3 weeks to process and consent, while PA takes less than a week. In this case we would be living in a hotel for those 2-3 weeks, or until the adoption is consented by both states.
We'll come visit you at the hotel!! This is so exciting to think about...that baby is going to be so incredibly blessed!!
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