Our adoption journey has been long, and has had many twists and turns along the way.
We initially set out in 2022 to pursue a private adoption. We went through the home study and got approved in 2023 for infant placement. We raised funds and secured a finances to make sure that we could adopt an infant without having to worry about the cost – we discussed the details and high cost of private adoption in previous posts. We prepared a nursery and all the things we’d need to welcome a baby into our home. And then the adoption consultancy we were working with went through major changes in staffing and how they interacted with clients. This change left us in a position where we felt we needed to part ways with that agency at the end of 2023 and work with a local adoption agency in 2024.
During this transition, we prayed and sought direction on how to grow our family. We started by considering doing private adoption through the new agency. Then, we considered adopting a waiting child in the foster care system. And then in the Spring of 2024, God put it on our hearts to adopt a sibling group (ages birth to 8 years old). Not just one or two, but up to four. On top of that, we still feel led to pursue private infant adoption. That’s a big change from our original path, but God knows what He’s doing!
Because of the change in direction, we had to undergo a new home study in 2024 and take different training in preparation for older children. Our home saw some big changes too! We converted my (Hannah’s) office into a bedroom, we integrated play spaces into other areas of our home, and came up with ideas for how we could make more space in our home in the future.
While we wait for an infant match and a sibling group match, we are providing Respite Care for other foster families. This helps us practice the parenting skills we're learning in our classes, get used to the chaos of having kids in the house, and make some adjustments to our home and routines to accommodate kiddos.
Our hearts are open and willing, and we are looking forward to what God has planned for us! Your prayers and generous financial support have made growing our family to this extent possible. This has been a long journey, and it may take a bit longer still. But we are so blessed to have you with us!
We realized last week that we are nearly done with the paperwork portion of the Home Study! That is such a huge burden lifted! It's taken us many months to do the paperwork. We are hoping to mail everything off to the Home Study agency next week! After that, we'll get scheduled with a social worker for the interview and home inspection portion of the Home Study.
Another piece of good news -- my job (Hannah) offers a FREE service where you can talk to adoption specialists through a video call. We tried that last night, and it was really helpful! The social worker helped us set expectations for the home inspection (don't be TOO perfect, but make sure your home is safe) and for the profile book. We haven't seen a lot of examples of profile books, so it was great to talk to someone who has seen them in person and has advised on them in the past.
After we mail in our paperwork and get scheduled with the social worker, we will get moving on our profile book.
Thank you all for your support and kindness!
Hannah and Phil
This week begins our leap into training. We have four online classes that cover topics like talking about being adopted with your adopted child, and how to manage as a family that may not look very much alike. We also signed up for infant/child CPR training. I haven't gone through infant/child CPR training since my Red Cross Babysitting course back in 1990—I only remember the bit about how to dislodge something from a baby's throat. Probably time for a refresher!
But wait, there's more!
We are also going to be taking the baby care classes offered via the Summa Health Systems. It's going to be interesting attending that class, because it's primarily for birth parents. I wonder how many other prospective adoptive parents and fostering/family caregivers we will encounter? I hope that we can build some local connections through these classes.
We are getting close to finishing our home study prerequisites before we have the home inspection and meet with a social worker. While we work on taking our training classes, we're also going to be taking care of small home repairs that will need to be completed before the home inspection. Things like patching any misc. nicks in the wall, touching up worn areas of paint, making sure all our window screens are secure, etc. Winter is a great time to do this kind of thing because of the inclement weather. So, if you want to reach us, we'll be home!
With love,
Hannah and Phil
The fire safety inspection last week was definitely interesting. Our local Fire Captain came to our house and looked at specific areas that need to meet fire codes. We toured the whole house and looked at fire extinguishers, escape routes, number and placement (and functionality) of smoke detectors, CO2 detectors, shelving in the child's room, and general tidyness of the house. We passed in all respects, except we have to wall-mount our fire extinguisher. It was good to talk through some of our concerns with the Captain, and realize that our home meets nearly all the requirements he was checking for. He said he sees kids in dangerous situations at home every day, and it really broke my heart to know that is so common locally.
In other news, we received a $1000 matching donation recently. If we reach, or surpass, $1000 in donations, this donor will contribute $1000 on top of that. Thank you very much for that match, Anonymous! Your investment in our family means so much to us.
With relief at passing the inspection, and gratefulness for your support,
Hannah and Phil
Since our previous update, we have dug deeper into the Home Study process. This involves getting our home into ship-shape condition before any child is placed with us. We have to have our well water tested by the county Health Department, our home inspected for fire safety and general safety, our own backgrounds and health scrutinized (as mentioned last time), and meet with a Social Worker in person to look at our home and get to know us as a family to make sure we're prepared to welcome a new family member. Oh, and we need friends and family to vouch for us in writing that we are reliable people who will be good parents! So, some of you will get that reference request in the coming week or two.
We want to send a big THANK YOU to the friends and family who have (anonymously) donated to our adoption fund! That's not the only way you all have supported us so far, so a big THANK YOU to everyone who has shared parenting advice, baby clothes, prayers, and the support of friendship. It warms our hearts, and we know you all are invested in one way or another (emotionally, financially, practically, etc.) in helping make this dream of being parents become a reality. We value your contributions, no matter how big or small, and want you all to be part of this now and in the future!
With love and appreciation,
Hannah and Phil
We are still early in our official adoption journey. This weekend, Phil and I kicked off the home study process by filling out an application for the Ohio agency providing the social work services for the home study, and a State of Ohio application for adopting a child. It felt really good to get the Big Paperwork started.
Next up is getting some background checks finalized, and medical reviews. It's easy to feel like this process is an invasion of privacy. It certainly is! But, we are strangers to the adoption agency and to the birth mother. They need to get to know us Really Really Well to make sure we will be a trustworthy and safe family for the child or children they place in our care. When I look at it that way, it makes all of this paperwork and microscopic inspection of my life just a little bit easier!
Prayer requests: We ask that you pray for us in this stage for diligence in getting the paperwork done. As well, please pray for our prospective birth mother -- that she will have the courage to contact an adoption agency or other social worker. She may or may not already have children. She may not be pregnant with our child yet. We don't know! But she needs to be lifted up no matter where she is.
As always, with love!
Hannah and Phil