Thursday, June 2, 2011

Received Our Adoption Packet Today!

Brett and I received our adoption packet today from American Adoptions!!!  YEAH!!!

In it was a big manual we need to read that explains the process and how to fill out all the necessary paperwork.  I actually read a lot of it while working out at the gym!!

It also included the home study packet to fill out along with the criminal, background, and child abuse forms.  We are currently filling out this information while enjoying the Cardinals (they are up against the Giants) and a glass of some excellent V. Sattui Cabrernet provided by the Stigalls! Thanks Elizabeth and Bill!

Photo from last night at Botanical Gardens
with Bill, Elizabeth and our God Child Liam.
The other part of the packet was a long form we have to fill out called the Adoption Planning Questionnaire.  This is completed online and is basically a ton of questions about our future child and our future birth parents.  It is where we basically hand pick a child.  It is very weird to have to check boxes indicating "yes" or "no" on a variety of questions that most parents don't have a say so in.  It includes anything from race, medical history of the birth parents, our adoption budget, how open we want the adoption to be, and a bunch of open-ended questions regarding our knowledge and thoughts about the process.  This will probably take the longest to complete and will require a lot of conversations between Brett and I.

There was also the information about creating a photo and video profile (which we are the most excited about).  We get to collect about 50 photographs about all aspects of our lives and submit them along with  some text about Brett and I as individuals and as a couple.  We submit all of this online and the agencies professionals put it together for our photo profile that is about a 4 page spread all about us.  This is what gets send to potential birth parents to market ourselves! :)  This part also includes a video camera that will be send to us after we send in the pictures to help us collect video clips of us, our neighborhood and our friends and family.  These clips are also put together by the agency's professionals as our video profile.  This is also sent to potential birth parents to help them make an informed decision.

This part of the process is what really sold me on this agency.  Potential birth parents only receive about 15 "matching families" and those family's photo and video profiles.  The agency has this awesome and complicated program that spits out matches based on all the criteria the birth mothers and the adoptive parents submit.  They are then send our profiles (video and 4 page spread) to help them make their decision.  I loved that the birth mothers get the opportunity to see us and hear about us along with all aspects of our lives. I also love that the stress of creating these items are taken off or us!  We have been through so much that the thought of how much stress Brett and I (being the creative perfectionists we are) would acquire in creating these items would put us over the edge.

So......if you are wondering what we are up to in the coming weeks.....it will be PAPERWORK! and of course working on items for our hopesodreams.com store on etsy!

We might we coming around to some of you for photos and video clips!

Thanks for reading and we can't thank you enough for your love and support!

Megan

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