inspection

When Suzanne had left our house following the inspection for the foster care license she had some questions she needed to ask before giving us the approval:
1) if a 2nd form of egress is necessary from a basement even though it's not used for sleeping
2) if the lightweight screen in front of the fireplace is OK or needs to be permanent glass doors
3) if the furnace needs to be inspected every year
So, the basement and fireplace are fine as is, but we do need a furnace inspection - not a big deal. She also answered a few questions we had about Tavion/Chase/Otez. Due to the holidays and varied schedules we know we won't hear anything more until after the first of the year. Oh, we also found out there is another family that has shown interest in these 3 boys.

I took some time today and looked at the list of 110 kids that we "match." There are 23 sibling groups and 43 individual kids. We are willing to take a single child, but we will not have only 1 child, which means we would have to go through this whole process a 2nd time - not a fun notion. We haven't done any more with this list, haven't ruled any kids out or chosen any we want to pursue. We have our 2 groups of 3 that we are looking at - doesn't seem right to have our hand in too many pots.

the beginning of regular posts

I have always intended this blog to be something others could follow on a regular basis, but the reality has been that things moved pretty slowly and there weren't events to share. Now we have been approved as adoptive parents and are in the matching process. This moves along much more quickly. Since late October we have already sought information on 6 different groups of kids. Some had other families also interested, some turned out to be more than we could handle, and some we are still pursuing. We haven't been daunted by any of these kids going to homes other than ours - this whole thing is about the kids - if they are in a good home we are happy for them.

The matching process happens in a couple different ways:
1) we can request info on a kid(s) we've seen on the website www.mnadopt.org
2) our social worker can hear about a kid(s) and think of us, giving us preliminary info
3) other workers across the state can read about us and think we might be a good match
4) a computer program can say we "match" kids per some data they've gathered. Because we are so open to what kids(s) we will take in we were matched with 110 kids

Currently we are considering 2 separate sibling groups:
1) Tavion 6/Chase 5/Otez 18mos. The worker for these boys saw our info and wanted us to consider them. We have learned some preliminary info and have requested to learn more. The behaviors the boys have exhibited is all on par for what we have been told to expect: aggressive, ADHD, attachment disorder. Otez does have a serious heart condition that will require special attention for the rest of his (possibly short) life.
2) Christopher 10/Isaac 9/Yulianna 8. We started learning about them last month, but our worker kinda dropped the ball on this. We had a lengthy meeting with her and she had taken several notes for herself, some of which were questions we wanted posed to the kids' worker. Shortly after our meeting 2 boys came into the picture that were a possibility for us to take in and I think that got her sidetracked. Their worker has already begun interviewing and working with a family for these 3, but is willing to meet with us - though we would be the back-up in case this other family drops out.

That's where we are right now. As things happen fairly quickly now I'll have things to post on a regular basis.