Agency Orientation

Last night we went to the group orientation meeting at the agency we are considering. I will update you all on that but first I would like to give a "shout out".

Thank you to my very sweet cousin, Kristin, for sending me an awesome book on adoption and discovering your child's life story called Before You Were Mine. It was such a nice surprise when I opened my mailbox earlier in the week. Though I have just started reading the book, I can already tell it is going to be such a great tool and guide, especially since it's from a Christian persective. So thank you, Kristin!

Okay, about the orientation. It was held in Atlanta at a very, very nice church. The particular building the meeting was in was in one of the church's buildings called "The Lodge" which was across the street from the actual church. Um, wow. This building was very nice and swanky and it did indeed look like a lodge inside. It was a little intimidating, actually. I suddenly started looking at my clothes and my purse (which I really liked the outfit was wearing and I love my Vera Bradley purse) wondering if my clothes and purse weren't good enough for this. We were the second people there, naturally (I love to be early! We actually thought we were running late but it started 30 minutes after I originally thouhgt it was supposed to start). About 10 minutes before it started other couples and inviduals...mostly couples, though...started coming in. I was a little paranoid because we were probably the youngest couple there and I could tell some of the couples were obviously from the Buckhead area because they had the "right" clothes and the "right" hairstyles and the swanky designer glasses. I know I shouldn't let this kind of stuff make me paranoid or worried, but I do. I feel like adoption is so expensive and I kind of wonder if a birth mother is shown our profile with a really wealthy couple's profile, why would they choose us over the wealthy couple? This is just part of my warped way of thinking (though it's probably not too warped, actually).

They did a video about the agency that was very touching and very well put together. Then each director talked a little bit about their area of specialty and after they finished speaking we broke out into different groups based on our interest. We sat in on the Domestic Infant Adoption session since that is the route we are going to go. We had thought about Intercountry adoption for a brief second but we just simply, most definitely cannot afford that. Our session was fantastic and we really did learn a lot. One thing that kind of scares me is the fact that in Georgia the birth parents have a 10 day grace period after they sign the release papers to re-nig on the release of their child. That means that after the birth parents sign the forms stating they are giving their child to a couple to adopt, they have 10 days to change their mind. That was a little surprising to learn and it was a hot topic when people were asking questions during the info session.

I'm so glad we went to the meeting last night. It cleared up a lot of questions that we had and I think it helped my husband to be able to understand everything a little better. I can only explain so much to him about the adoption process so I think hearing it from professionals made it easier.

Now I will just eagerly wait and anticipate Monday's meeting with the Executive Director at the resource center. I really hope that one works out because that would really be the ideal route to take since it's way less expensive than an agency. Plus, I like the idea of how local it is. We shall see, though. Either way, after Monday we will decide what direction we are going to take and start filling out paper work to get a home study started...whether if it's with the agency's social workers or the county's social workers.