So it has been too long since I have posted anything. Here's the deal. Remember way back in April? I know that was just last month but in some ways this has been an incredibly looonnnng month. We went to the Match event in April and ended up inquiring about 3 boys in total. After three initial phone consultations with our adoption specialist and each of the boy's case workers we felt one of the boys was a stand out as far as a potential match for our family. We had a few days to talk it over and consider the limited information we had been given, then we asked our worker to please submit our home study for consideration at his match meeting which was scheduled for April 25th, just 11 days after the Match event.
Things were happening fast. We were not the only family presented as a potential match for this boy but we were the family chosen by his "people." His "people" being his case worker, her supervisor and his Guardian Ad Litem among others. Our worker presented our home study and she wasn't eligible to vote for us. A Pins & Needles day that was.
Today (Friday May 18th, 2012) we had disclosure where we were presented with his Child Study (similar to our home study) of how he came into foster care and general info on his health, school performance and his interests and so forth. A very general yet as specific as possible meeting. As disclosure meetings go it was fairly short, just 2 1/2 hours, due in part to his relatively brief time in care. We did receive lots of info to take home and look over with a fine tooth comb and that has been challenging. Imagine someone handing you a thick book of your child's life - this book is filled with things you work to protect your child from experiencing as a child - heck even as an adult! I look at our girls and I am thankful for the innocence they have been able to maintain as children. I mean that. It has always been important to me that they get to be children for as long as possible in this world where I think most children grow up way too fast. * PLEASE STEP DOWN OFF THE SOAPBOX - BEFORE YOU GET STARTED!!!!*
Why have we waited so long to share this exciting news you might be asking? Here is where it gets a little complicated. This is what is called an "at risk" adoption placement. There is a very, very slight chance that a complication (we will not be sharing for the sake of his privacy) could result in the adoption failing. Please understand this is very unlikely and we went into this knowing full well the situation and have withheld the wonderful news of being matched because we didn't want to have to explain the complication of "at risk." After further information gained from the disclosure meeting we feel even more certain that this potential complication will become irrelevant at some point within the next 2-3 months. In the meantime we will proceed to meeting him officially - hopefully within the next two weeks.
Please insert giddy, giggliness here. We will have a long period of "getting to know you" because that is what he is going to need. We will be moving at his pace and his level of comfort with our family will be the guide for when we move to unsupervised visits, when he comes to spend an overnight with us and especially when he moves in - wow did I really just say that?
Of course I'd love to post an adorable photo of him and share all the wonderful things we learned about him today but obviously I'm a little restricted due to the "at risk" status. So I'm going to say this.... Uncle Edwin if you are reading this I know you will love his name as it is the name of your one and only son. :-) He is a little brother for our girls but only by 7 months younger than R. After Michael and I left the meeting today we stopped at Target on the way home and bought a big blue box of Lego's and a shiny new soccer ball. And his favorite color is green.
Rockin' the Big Sister tee
