The law in Alberta requires that potential adoptive parents obtain an International Adoption Training Certificate before they can have their Home Study finalized. The course is given by the same agencies that do Home Studies.
So we spent all day Saturday in a classroom, along with about 10 more couples, hearing about all things international adoption. It was really good! I’m glad the training is mandatory; it raised new questions for us to think about, comforted us in our decision, gave us a much better general understanding of the process and made us feel kind of normal among other adoptive families. I took lots of notes, to share with you guys...
We found that we were on the right track with the process. We’re actually farther along than I thought... They divide the process, in Alberta, in three steps:
- Home Study: A registered Alberta agency has to approve our application. To do this, they need to be 100% sure that we are suitable parents. They need to see our police clearance, intervention checks, marriage certificate, financial statements and proof of employment, get references for us, have our health verified, interview us and see our home. They then write a nice long report on us. The government of Alberta will then review it and approve it.
- Dossier: Once we have an approved Home Study, we start working with an out-of-province agency. Ours is in Ontario. This agency will put our Dossier together. The Dossier contains all our original documents and our Home Study. It has to be translated and notarized before being sent to Sri Lanka. Our agency will then work over there to match us with our baby. When they find the right child for us, they will send us a referral (via the government, then our Alberta agency).
- Immigration: We can start this process before we get our referral. This way, we won’t have to wait months to bring our little one home. I don’t know much about this part, yet, as it is still in a little while. It’s the process that will give our child Canadian citizenship, and allow us to bring them in Canada.
We have applied for the Home Study and should get a call within a week or two to make our first appointment with the social worker. We already have most of the documents. It’s a big step, I’m excited!
We also talked about attachment disorder and how to increase our chances of successful attachment, trans-racial issues, developmental delays and much, much more.
We had 3 families come over to show their adorable kids (from the US, Ethiopia and China) and tell us about how the adoption adventure has been for them. Nobody had a smooth, easy road... I guess that’s something to keep in mind...
Our agent kept telling us to talk openly to our kids from the get go. She recommends we talk about their adoption, the birth parents and their racial difference before they’re even able to understand. She also said we should acknowledge the grief they are going through as they grow up without knowing their birth families.
I also picked up a few really interesting tips that I will share with you in a later post.
Saturday was big day: We got our mandatory training done and we officially started the Home Study process on the same day! (It also cost us $1600 in one day, but whatever!) After the course, we went to a BBQ restaurant we both like and celebrated with a good, unhealthy meal and a pint of Traditional.
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