Now the Journey Begins

Well, we had the orientation meeting for adoption this past Wednesday. It left me feeling excited and nervous. Overall though, it was great. The process goes like this:
1) Fill out and return the preliminary application
2) Do a livescan and get a TB test
3) Have prelim application approved and be assigned to a social worker
4) Home visit where they check for child safety in and around your home.
5) 6 weeks of training
6) Approval for foster care
7) Home study
8) Approval for adoption

So, we have a lengthy process ahead of us. It is sad some of the statistics we found out. Since we are adopting through the county, many of the children are removed from their homes. Only 50% are reunited with their parents. That is so sad, because the county pays for the parents to go through rehab and job training. They pay for the parents to do the right thing and they still don't.
What is also sad is 99% of these children, and newborns, are born with drug addiction. A vast majority of that is methanphetimine. Almost all of the children have little effect from the drug, with the most common being ADHD/ADD.
What is crazy, something we weren't expecting, is that we will receive money from the state for adopting our child. And, our adoption fees are zero. There is no cost at all. We will receive from the state about $425 a year, and that goes up as the child gets older. That is not the reason we are adopting this child, but that is wonderful because it will help pay for childcare.

So, now we are finishing the application to return, and on August 12 we will go get our livescan, TB, and schedule our homestudy and training.

This is going to be a crazy year, I can already tell!