|
Hi Coffee_please. It could be a good idea to cut back your profile, though things may have changed since we adopted in Nov 03. Ours was 11 pages long and the majority of it was pictures. 3 pages dedicated to pictures and one main picture on the cover. I've just counted we had 42 pictures and from those pictures we tell the story of us.
It's definitely true about the obsure bits. Things that I didn't want to tell her, turned out to be something she could relate to e.g my husband is a hunter - and we were worried that she would think that was a bad thing. But our ** is a country girl and grew up in that environment.
We told everyone (except my work) about our plans to adopt. Initially this was very very hard, as I felt like we were a failure. But we knew that if we wanted to get our name out there, this was the only way. I have known of quite a few cases were people have adopted privately. When the news broke everyone was over the moon, I had completely strangers in tears! and people turning up with gifts that didn't even know me. Adoption brings out the very best in people and everyone was over the moon. Especially work as they thought I was on some serious drugs the day I found out. It was great fun ringing up my mother and telling her she had a new grandson (it was 15 years since the last one). Even she and dad got cards of congratulations.
I'm really pleased that your good days outweigh your bad. That's extremely positive. Some days I would get a real positive buzz about it.
Also, once you are in the pool, find out how many times you have had your profile is put forward. We found out that we had been chosen once before, but the woman had decided to keep the baby. As bad as that sounds, we didn't see it that way. We thought, well if she wanted us maybe someone else does too. We also were vigilant in ringing Social Welfare and talking to other Social Welfare staff so that they knew us also and attending any evenings. We actually got rung and asked if we would consider being put forward for an 18 mth old - because of making contact with another Social Worker.
It's an exciting time for you both. It gets really exciting when they send you the form asking you what type of child you want e.g Boy / Girl, European / Maori. You really know that you are almost in the pool then!
Let me know how it is going!
Richie68
|