PAC & Self-Study

Greetings!

I'm so sorry - Ive been horrible about keeping up. I will try and do better in the future!

Much has happened since April. Its been a WHIRLWIND! Let me bring you up-to-speed:

The week after our application was sent we received a letter from our agency confirming receipt. The letter also told us that we would probably be invited to the June or July PAC (pre-adoption classes) if our app looked good. The following week our agency called to invite us to the MAY PAC classes! We were so excited! Of course we jumped at the chance. Two weeks later we were at PAC. It was two days packed full of lectures, group sessions, panel discussions, etc. It was wonderful - but exhausting. It was fun meeting other people embarking on the “Adoption Adventure”. The majority of people there were in the International Program but there were about 20 in the Domestic Program.

During PAC we were given our SELF-STUDY HOMEWORK. (UGH – more paperwork!) This must be completed and submitted in order for us to be matched with a Social Worker. Once they review the SELF-STUDY the HOME STUDY will be scheduled.

In case you are curious here is a breakdown of the SELF-STUDY.(NOTE: For every question there are multiple sub-questions. Its VERY involved)

The GENERAL STUDY consists of 19 questions pertaining to your life from birth to present including: personal history, career, health, relationships, hobbies, community involvement, lifestyle, personal characteristics, coping skills, support system, parenting skills, permanency planning, attitudes / beliefs, cultural awareness / diversity, spiritual beliefs, finances, home, brushes with the law, strengths / weaknesses, etc.

The CULTURAL WORKSHEET consists of 8 questions pertaining to your cultural background, interaction with others from another culture, how have you learned about other cultures, what culturally diverse events do you participate in, etc.

TRANSRACIAL / TRANSCULTURAL PARENTING PLAN consist of 6 questions about cultural/racial awareness, role models, and racism.

OLDER CHILD (12months +) WORKSHEET contains 15 questions to help assess your readiness to transition an older child into your family.

And last but not least - the SPECIAL CONCERNS CHECKLIST - which is a 1-pager that lists a gazillion medical & background issues that you need to rate on a scale of 1(comfortable) to 3(am not open to this).

As you can imagine – we’re MENTALLY EXHAUSTED from answering the questions. Its really draining. We've been working on it off-and-on for a month now - and am almost finished. We got a ton done on it today and am hopeful that we will finish tomorrow (my fingers are crossed).

During this time we were also interviewing contractors to finish our basement (We thought it would be a good idea to get it done before the home-study). We found a fantastic company and they've been working on it for the last 2wks. They are supposed to be done the wk of 7/11. We are so excited! Its really fun to see the basement morph each day.

Never a dull moment around here! What a ride!!!

Have a wonderful day!