Post-Placement #1

Early this morning we had our first post-placement visit with a social worker.  The China requirements are that we file a report about L's progress with a Hague Certified Social Worker at:

• 1 month after arriving home
• 6 months after arriving home
• 1 year after arriving home
• 2 years after arriving home
• 3 years after arriving home
• 5 years after arriving home

The first meeting comes very quickly after our homecoming and the process of finding a social worker in our new location wasn't easy.  I found an agency who could help us, but their prices were astronomical.  Over $600 per visit.  Nuts!  The second agency I called seemed willing to help but the process of getting started with them was difficult and full of much, much miscommunication and many, many unexpected fees.  Yet it still was less than the first agency I contacted.

Thanks to the adoption community who has rallied around us during our job loss, we were able to raise funds to cover the application fee (unexpected), the first post-placement visit fee (expected), and the fuel charge for the social worker who lives over 60 miles away (hoped she'd waive this since my NE social worker never charged us for travel from Omaha to Lincoln).  At one point, we were told we'd need to be fingerprinted because we have never lived in TX until now.  They said it was TX law.  Thankfully, that was waived since we just had prints done in CA and NE for our home study update just prior to my China trip.  So, thankfully we didn't need to come up with an additional amount for new prints here.  Thanks be to God for amazing friends in the adoption community!  God provided every penny we needed through you amazing women and men!!!

The visit was quick.  We had to provide:

• A signed doctor's note from L's first physical
• A 2-page questionnaire from Jay and I about how L is growing and adjusting
• 15 unique, labeled and dated 4x6 photos (5 of L alone, 5 of L with Jay and I, and 5 of L with her brothers/friends/extended family)

The rest of the report is up to the Social Worker who came in to interview us and ask questions.  She was polite and asked about L's adjustment to our family and how she's doing overall.  I miss my social worker back in NE because she was a fellow adoptive mom with 2 girls from China.  She understood exactly what we have been through.  Today's social worker didn't understand.  She asked questions that a China Adoptive mom would know the answers to (like why was L abandoned, among others).  She stayed probably close to an hour and we answered all the questions.  She also looked at the room where L is sleeping (our room for now in a pack-n-play) and the room she will eventually have upstairs if we don't end up moving.  Now she just writes her report.

The finalized report will go to our agency, who will have it translated and then sent to China.  One copy is for the CCCWA (Chinese Adoption Authority) and the second copy goes to the Orphanage where L was from.   I do wonder if our reports will be read at L's orphanage or if they will just be filed away.  I hope they are read and shared with her caretakers.  I'd love for them to know that L is growing, happy and loved beyond measure with her forever family.

And I know it's a lot, but enjoy our 15 post-placement photos with dates and captions, just like we are asked to provide.  I know you've seen some of these before, but some are new.

6/7/12  Happy to be home in America

6/17/12  Wearing new pajamas

6/22/12  Playing with bubbles after dinner

6/18/12  Riding a rocking horse at the pediatrician's office

6/24/12  All dressed up for church

6/7/12  Meeting baba for the very first time at the airport

6/18/12  Happy with baba while waiting for the doctor

6/27/12  Outside with mama

6/27/12  Outside with mama and baba

6/30/12  Proudly wearing our China shirts

6/8/12  First morning with her big brothers

6/21/12  Visiting the library

6/24/12  My 3 kids on Sunday morning after church

6/27/12  Playing with her brothers

6/30/12  My 3 kids wearing their China shirts

PS... Jay has an interview on Friday.  

Please pray!!!