Individual Interviews are DONE!

Frank had his individual interview yesterday. Colin and I had ours today.

It went fine. I think it helps that our worker is about my age (a little younger) and super nice. I think it would be a lot harder if it was some old guy just drilling me with questions.

It took a little over 2 hours - a lot of what we talked about was stuff on the questionaire that we submitted last week. Which I answered honestly so there were some things that needed discusion. Nothing major - but things like how strict my dad was, and old very emotionally abusive boyfriend, a cousin who had domestic violence issue, stuff like that.

She also asked about Colin's father and what kind of relationship he had with him.

She asked how Frank and I met, what things we do together, things we have in common, what things make him a good guy, etc.

She also asked about our roles in the family - like who does what.

Like I said, I was honest on the questionaire, so I had no problem talking about stuff. Besides, everthing was such a long long time ago so it does not enter my mind on a daily basis.

My three m/c did come up - they just wanted to make sure that we are not using adoption as a replacement for that. And, that it is not something that we had not coped with. I guess if I broke down crying over it, they would suggest conseling or something.

Colin's was fine - super quick. She asked things about what he likes to do, how he would feel if someone went into his room, does he like you play with younger kids, how he is punished, how our relationship is, etc.

Oh - and most of our paperwork is coming in yay!
So far, this is what has been submited (and/or returned)

• Application
• Financial Forms
• Privacy Forms
• Preference Forms (what type of child we would accept placement of)
• Fingerprints done - results not yet returned
• Reference returned for a friend
• Reference returned for person from an agency (used my church)
• Medical Reference
• Work Reference (Frank's Job)
• School Reference (Colin)
• Background Police Check for Frank (Town #1)
• Family questionaire

Still waiting on:

• Police Checks for several towns (amy and frank)
• Reference from neighbor (what a surprise)
• Fingerprint results

I am sure there is more that has been submited, there is so much I kind of lost track.

Our worker will call us soon to make another (final) appointment with us at which time our house will be looked at with a fine tooth comb. This visit has to be within a certain time frame before licensing comes to do the final home inspection. And with Christmas right around the corner - it might be after Christmas that she comes back. Since we are waiting on other stuff to come back anyway.

But, she told me that if that other stuff comes back asap, then she will try to make her last appointment with me asap.

And - it is out of my control how long it takes for the paperwork comes back - so who know. I am just hoping it is sooner than later :)

First home Visit - Check!

Yesterday was our first home visit. It was more of a fill-out-this-paperwork visit than it was a home inspection, which is fine.

We filled out lots and lots of paperwork. Things like what kind of child (race, age, gender), what types of medical problems, what type of behavior problems, etc.

We also had to provide copies of our drivers licenses, registration, car insurance, birth certificates, & marriage certificate.

We also did a lot of talking, we spoke about what was in the area (yay - we live across from a park), the work we did on our house, how supportive our family is, what Colin thinks about everything, why we are going this route, etc. Lots and lots of talking.

We also got a 10 page questionaire that has to be filled out with each of us in separate rooms. It asks things about our childhood, sexual experiences, relationship with our parents, how we were disciplines, traits of our spouse, how much we drink, how often we argue, what we argue about, how many siblings, which ones you are close to, when you moved out from your parents house, etc.

I did mine last night and it took a while. But, it is now done. I don't think I look too bad :)

We also had our physicals done last night and today we go for our fingerprints. We have our individual visits next week. Our worker has to interview Frank, myself and Colin at separate times, I guess to make sure we tell the same story and that we are all on the same page.

I heard from one of my references that she received her reference forms over the weekend - so I am assuming that the others received theirs yesterday or today.

Our worker has also told us that the police checks have been submitted and also the letter to Colin's school.

Wow - that's a lot. Makes me wonder how quickly things would have gotten done if our paperwork was submitted correctly. I asked our worker about timeline (hinting about the delay), and she said she always works this quickly. She said that if she does not start right away, it is real easy to get backed up. Plus, she said she wants everthing done before the holidays - which is great for us.

We have the appointments next week, at which time we will make another (final) appointment for the following week. At this appointment, she will really go through the house with a fine tooth comb, going over what licensing will really look for. She wants to make sure we pass on the first time. So, after that home visit, they will schedule the home inspection from the licensing dept. After that visit, everything gets sent to licensing and hopefully gets approved - yay!

We kind of lose some days because of the holiday season, but if it moves nicely, we could be licensed before we know it.

Of course, I will keep this blog posted