Well, I must say that I was a bit nervous about my first meeting with the social worker! I wasn't sure what she was going to be asking or needing from me. I did know that she needed a tour of my house and a basic understanding of how life is in my house on a day to day basis!
I had heard from another adoptive parent that my social worker, Annette was wonderful and would guide me through the process.
I had the evening planned out and sent my mom off to the movies with my brothers and Gina's boys. I figured that the fewer people there the better. I can remember telling them that I was most nervous because I don't really like to talk too much. Some of you may find that hard to believe!
We started with the tour of the house. She was very complimentary of the decorating and "use of color". I was thinking, "Wow, she knows her psychological because I am already at ease." She only asked two questions: Where will the baby sleep? and Do you have any cages in the house? Those questions were easy enough to answer. There is plenty of space for baby and no cages to be found.
After the tour, we sat down in the family room and began going through the paperwork I had provided via fax and mail. This included going over my medical history and my financial standing. It was a tad bit uncomfortable since this is pretty personal business, but Annette made me feel at ease.
She provided me with a ton of reading material and suggested web sites to visit. I was encouraged to create a list of questions for her that she can answer upon her return on July 3rd.
The session lasted about 3 hours and ended with my explanation of what has led me to adopt and my biggest fears about international adoption.
Annette assured me that I sounded like an excellent fit for an adoptive mother. She said most of my answers were similar to those of biological parents when they are preparing for the birth of a new child. This made me feel great!
Next session, we are going to get more into who I am, how I grew up, what and who influenced me most, etc...
As a side note, I was wondering during the entire session if Annette found my "the Lord this" and "the Lord that" to be kind of strange. She said at one point that I sounded like I had a strong faith and that I should lean on that through this process. I also shared that any judgmental feelings about the adoption have come from Christians at work. She said that it is indeed sad that Christians can at times turn good into bad. At that point, I felt like I had been a bad testimony for Christ. Then our session came to an end and Annette said, "Well, I would love to come back next week, but I am teaching Vacation Bible School! She smiled, and I smiled. I praise God to have met a fellow believer in the business of rescuing children! PTL
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