The Home Inspection
We did it! Another HUGE adoption milestone is complete. We had our home inspection and it went very well! Praise the Lord, Elliette and Esther both napped right on time and we were able to cover a lot of material with our social worker before our little ladies woke up. Then, our social worker moved on to our home inspection and observed how our family interacts. Ryan and I both still need to be interviewed separately by our social worker and then the home study process will be complete (at least on our end of things).
The home visit was just over three hours long. It was mentally and emotionally exhausting. We discussed a wide range of topics with our social worker like attachment issues, cultural awareness and transitioning a new child/ren into our family. She asked how our family and neighbors would react to us having adoptive children in our home and what our plans were if our child had any special needs and whether or not we were open to any type of outside interventions (counseling, speech therapy, etc.). We talked about our home’s proximity to hospitals, grocery stores, schools and such. Our social worker looked in every single one of our closets (phew, so thankful we spent a bit of time making sure most of those were organized earlier in the week) and made sure our home met all of NY state safety requirements for adoptive families. She also spoke with our little ladies and asked their thoughts on adopting too. Our girls have been incredibly excited about adopting and often talk to Ryan and I about ways to help “the little girlies in Africa” so they were more than happy to chat with our social worker about all they’ve done to help (made dresses and mailed shoeboxes, etc.) and what they think about adopting.
As nerve-wracking as the visit was, we are thankful to be doing something other than paperwork and it seems like all the steps we have taken over the past few months are finally adding up to some major progress. It is very likely this time next year our adoption will be complete. Referrals will have been given. Court dates will have been set. Travel will be complete. We’ll be home sweet home.
