Educational Classes

So here is the checklist that we have completed on our adoption thus far

1. Fill out and submit the massive application to our agency. * (Paid an agency fee for processing our application and beginning to distribute our information)  

  

2. Completed our state and FBI fingerprints    

      3. We met with our agency (Family Choice LTD) and our lawyer *(paid a lawyer retainer fee)

      4. And this weekend had our first adoption class...

Jason and I went to Effingham, IL bright and early Saturday morning. We arrived with 3 other couples for our education course. One of the families that attended brought their son. They were recently chosen to be parents and just started the process this summer. They have been selected and received a beautiful baby boy from Safe Haven. 

Safe Haven is a law that took effect around 1999 first in Texas and was known as "Baby Moses" Law. Essentially this means that a mother or father may leave their child in a designated location and there will not be criminal charges as you have chosen a safe location and your child will then become a ward of the state. It also maintains the anonymity of the parents. These locations are typically full time occupied hospitals, police departments, fire houses, etc. This is a great option for those parents that are struggle raising their children and believe that an adoption or foster care plan is best for their child. They are not abandoning their child... they are choosing a safe alternative for them. Our social worker explained that at this time, it is about 50/50 on the amount of the children that are abandoned in unsafe locations verse children/infants where a desired location is used and the safe haven law is enacted. The amount of parents that are not enacting the Safe Haven law is mainly in regards to awareness and education so I thought it appropriate I take a few minutes for a brief education on what I learned today. 

Overall, the class was very interesting. We had a large manual but for the most part our agency discussed the topics and would intermittently have us refer to the manual. The best part of the class (at least in our opinions) was an adoptive family coming in to share their story. The couple had 3 children and later in life (after their sons had grown) felt compelled to pursue adoption. They adopted 2 children, which were both at our class. The 13 year old girl discussed her feelings on adoption, on her parents, her relationship and understanding of her birth family, and other topics. It is such a blessing to see these wonderful families brought together through the will and power of God! Overall, the educational classes are a time for us, as a couple, to interact more with other families in various stages of adoptions; have mentors through other adoptive families; gain more education; and finally allow our agency to spend more intimate contact time with us so they can describe us better to potential birth families. 

Also this weekend, we were able to babysit our niece and nephew for a few hours. This also came as a blessing. One, they are the cutest darn kids and two, it reminded Jason and I how wonderful it is to have kid messes and laughter in our home. Also, they love what we have started working on in the babies room! 

* I included the information on the payments that we made because most people believe that adoption is very expensive. It is true that adoption is an expensive process but people are also concerned that adoptive families are "losing" a lot of money. Good agencies and lawyers protect us from losing money. They collect initial minimal fees to cover their continued phone conversations, meetings with birth parents, processing of paperwork for the state organizations, and counseling us crazy adoptive parents when we call and need a lot of things answered ;)