Home Study Visits Complete
We had our last home study visit yesterday. During this visit she asked for more detailed information on the answers we provided in the written questionnaires. We then discussed Legal Risk Adoption.
We started the process to adopt through the foster program. We were going to adopt children who are already available for adoption meaning their parents rights have been fully terminated. These children already have no family and there is no chance their parents can get them back.
However, through the process of our home study visits the case worker feels that Legal Risk Adoption would be able to provide us with a better match for what we want. Legal Risk Adoption means the parental rights have not yet been terminated, though it is close. With that said, we could potentially get the children placed with us and at the very last minute the parents could shape up and get their children back.
Remember, children get placed with potential families before the adoption is finalized. In regular foster-to-adopt through DFCS the only reasons the children would be removed from our house before adoption finalization would be if we, or the children, felt that it wasn't a great match. With Legal Risk Adoption it could be that the parents finally did what they were supposed to do so they earned the right to keep their children in the eyes of the Judge.
Kyle is very worried that I would be completely crushed if children are placed with us and then removed, and rightfully so. I would very likely be an emotional basket case if that were to happen. However, I believe I can handle it now that I've learned all that I have learned about what children go through in the foster program. Not all foster homes are good homes and sometimes they fall into the same traumatic experiences that had them removed from their parents in the first place. Our home could be a safe, fun, and loving place for them to stay even if it isn't forever. Those children deserve that.
Because of Kyle's concerns, the case worker said she would list us as potential Legal Risk Adoption parents for children who are close to having their parents rights terminated. Still a risk but a bit less of one.
One of the reasons she wants us to consider Legal Risk Adoption is because sometimes the Judge will not terminate parental rights until they know there is an adoptive resource available for them (IE: new parents ready and waiting).
Another reason being that we could get children closer to what we want (IE: young children sibling group; able to do outdoor activities; etc...) who haven't been in the foster system yet, or haven't been in it long. Meaning the children will have less trauma attached to them.
To be an adoptive resource for Legal Risk Adoption we will have to do more legal paperwork, more training hours per year, and have a bunch of monthly visits by several different types of people until the adoption is finalized. The picture below shows the advantages and challenges to doing Legal Risk Adoption.
At the conclusion of the visit we discussed the timeline of what we should expect. The timeline below is simply an approximate.
November 3rd - Submit Home Study to All God's Children for review
November 24th - Submit Home Study to the State for review
January - Approval or Denial from the State
2020 - Placement of children if approved. (The matching and visit process takes a while but could be quicker than a year.)
Please pray for us during the review processes. Please pray for favor from God in the reviewers eyes. Pray they will see us as a perfect resource for child placement. Pray they don't find any red flags that will delay the process.
Please pray for us as well. We've had so much stress lately and could use a decrease in stress.
Leah's recent stress:
- Mother's recent diagnosis with HER2 breast cancer and is now undergoing chemo.
- Leah's recent abnormal mammogram/ultrasound. Thank the Lord it looks benign.
- Leah's genetic testing for BRCA1 & 2. Should hear back in a couple of weeks.
- Working on her BSN.
- Working on her Nurse Advancement at work.
- Allergic rash on dominant hand that made her incapable of using it for almost a week and unable to sleep. It is almost gone now, thank the Lord.
- Let's not forget getting her hand stuck in the steering wheel, wrecking the car, and losing a tire a little over a month ago.
Kyle's recent stress:
- Leah's recent abnormal mammogram/ultrasound, especially after her mother's recent diagnosis.
- Working 7 days a week for the past several months with almost no end in sight.
- Kyle's windshield is cracked. He found it when leaving work one day. Now he has to replace that.
- Financial struggles: first septic, then basement, Leah's medical bills, children's furniture, replacing Leah's busted tire from the wreck, replacing his windshield, etc...
Thank you all for all your support. This process started back in May and looks like it'll be a while more before we finally have a forever family. We've had the best of friends and family supporting us every step of the way. We greatly appreciate you all!
We started the process to adopt through the foster program. We were going to adopt children who are already available for adoption meaning their parents rights have been fully terminated. These children already have no family and there is no chance their parents can get them back.
However, through the process of our home study visits the case worker feels that Legal Risk Adoption would be able to provide us with a better match for what we want. Legal Risk Adoption means the parental rights have not yet been terminated, though it is close. With that said, we could potentially get the children placed with us and at the very last minute the parents could shape up and get their children back.
Remember, children get placed with potential families before the adoption is finalized. In regular foster-to-adopt through DFCS the only reasons the children would be removed from our house before adoption finalization would be if we, or the children, felt that it wasn't a great match. With Legal Risk Adoption it could be that the parents finally did what they were supposed to do so they earned the right to keep their children in the eyes of the Judge.
Kyle is very worried that I would be completely crushed if children are placed with us and then removed, and rightfully so. I would very likely be an emotional basket case if that were to happen. However, I believe I can handle it now that I've learned all that I have learned about what children go through in the foster program. Not all foster homes are good homes and sometimes they fall into the same traumatic experiences that had them removed from their parents in the first place. Our home could be a safe, fun, and loving place for them to stay even if it isn't forever. Those children deserve that.
Because of Kyle's concerns, the case worker said she would list us as potential Legal Risk Adoption parents for children who are close to having their parents rights terminated. Still a risk but a bit less of one.
One of the reasons she wants us to consider Legal Risk Adoption is because sometimes the Judge will not terminate parental rights until they know there is an adoptive resource available for them (IE: new parents ready and waiting).
Another reason being that we could get children closer to what we want (IE: young children sibling group; able to do outdoor activities; etc...) who haven't been in the foster system yet, or haven't been in it long. Meaning the children will have less trauma attached to them.
To be an adoptive resource for Legal Risk Adoption we will have to do more legal paperwork, more training hours per year, and have a bunch of monthly visits by several different types of people until the adoption is finalized. The picture below shows the advantages and challenges to doing Legal Risk Adoption.
At the conclusion of the visit we discussed the timeline of what we should expect. The timeline below is simply an approximate.
November 3rd - Submit Home Study to All God's Children for review
November 24th - Submit Home Study to the State for review
January - Approval or Denial from the State
2020 - Placement of children if approved. (The matching and visit process takes a while but could be quicker than a year.)
Please pray for us during the review processes. Please pray for favor from God in the reviewers eyes. Pray they will see us as a perfect resource for child placement. Pray they don't find any red flags that will delay the process.
Please pray for us as well. We've had so much stress lately and could use a decrease in stress.
Leah's recent stress:
- Mother's recent diagnosis with HER2 breast cancer and is now undergoing chemo.
- Leah's recent abnormal mammogram/ultrasound. Thank the Lord it looks benign.
- Leah's genetic testing for BRCA1 & 2. Should hear back in a couple of weeks.
- Working on her BSN.
- Working on her Nurse Advancement at work.
- Allergic rash on dominant hand that made her incapable of using it for almost a week and unable to sleep. It is almost gone now, thank the Lord.
- Let's not forget getting her hand stuck in the steering wheel, wrecking the car, and losing a tire a little over a month ago.
Kyle's recent stress:
- Leah's recent abnormal mammogram/ultrasound, especially after her mother's recent diagnosis.
- Working 7 days a week for the past several months with almost no end in sight.
- Kyle's windshield is cracked. He found it when leaving work one day. Now he has to replace that.
- Financial struggles: first septic, then basement, Leah's medical bills, children's furniture, replacing Leah's busted tire from the wreck, replacing his windshield, etc...
Thank you all for all your support. This process started back in May and looks like it'll be a while more before we finally have a forever family. We've had the best of friends and family supporting us every step of the way. We greatly appreciate you all!
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