Adoption classes

Today was the first of the three required all day classes. These are all on Saturdays, once a month. The class is in the local Hand in Hand office, which is located in Karin's basement. There were three other couples in the class. It was the first class for us but everyone else had a one class head start on us. That was actually kind of nice because we got to hear from people going through all the steps before we actually had to do them. The other three couples all were adopting from different countries than us (Philippines, Haiti, and China) The class was a lot of hands on worksheets and activities. We learned about different issues with adoption and how to handle them. We learned a lot of what to expect with the adoption. We learned all the things we need to do to make the change easier on the adopted child (No party at the airport and a lot of alone time for us and the child). It was a lot of information to take in.

The Application

It is one month after the orientation and we have everything to turn in our application. The application is only a six page document. This is mostly routine information about employment, family, references, and finances. The big thing is the selection of a country. You're not actually locked in at this point but there are some differences in things needed for different countries so this is the point you select and sign fee agreements for the country. We have decided on Guatemala. There are many reasons for deciding on one country over another. I think I had a hard time choosing but Lara seemed to make up her mind on Guatemala without much difficulty. One of the things we liked about Guatemala was the fact that the children are in a foster home before the adoption instead of the orphanages of some countries. Another thing we liked was the speed and order of the different parts of the adoption. With some countries you are matched with a child fairly quickly and then have to wait a long time to actually take your child home. That seemed like it would be torture for us. Guatemala also matches children very young so we would be able to adopt an infant.