We Have A Date!

That' it: we're stepping into the next part of the process!
The social worker called and we have dates for our meetings with her. The first one is on October 12.
The home study will require 3 meetings, including one at our home. This one will be on October 22, and the last meeting will be in Calgary on November 2. The meetings should last about 2 hours each.

She then takes about 4 weeks to write her report, and it takes 4 to 6 weeks for the government to review it. If everyting goes well, we should have a completed home study by mid-January!

Our social worker sounded really nice. I'm looking forward to starting work with her!

Home Study Self-Report - The End

We’re done putting our Self Report together! The result is pretty seamless, and I find it does a good job at representing who we are...

The final version has 18 pages.

Both our SAFE Questionnaires are completed as well. Bring on the social worker: we’re ready!

Medical Reports

We just had our medical appointment. Our doctor had to fill a form on each of us to verify that we are healthy enough to adopt.
He had to ask about our medical history, from past ulcers to neurological disorders and susbstance abuse. Then, he asked about our family history with regards to deafness, epilepsy, developmental delays and psychological disorders. I think they want to know if we are at risk of developing any of these illnesses in the upcoming years...
He had to report any prescribed medication we're taking, check our ears, skin, eyes, throat, abdomen, blood pressure, pulse and reflexes, take urine samples and test our sight...
I wish they would give us as much information about our child when they send us the referral!
They had us booked for 15 minutes each, it took an hour and a half in total!

The doctor says he thinks this will be accepted as a routine medical and we should be covered by Alberta Health Care. I expected a fee, but I'll take the free exam, thank you very much!

At the bottom of the form, our doctor had to say if he thought there was any medical issue which may affect our ability to adopt. And he checked "No".
That's all that really matters!

A copy of this form is now going to our Alberta agency. We're keeping the originals for our dossier.

Also, we got our clear Alberta Children and Youth Services Intervention Checks back today.

An Interesting Bit of Information

Here is something really cool we learned at our International Adoption Seminar: it is legal, in Alberta, to pursue 2 adoptions at once! From what our agent said, Alberta is the only Canadian province to allow it.

What this means is that you could register for 2 programs (say, the United States and Sri Lanka), obtain 2 separate International Adoption Application approvals from the Alberta government and put together 2 different dossiers.

You still cannot have 2 children placed in your home within a 12 months period (unless they are siblings), so the second process would be suspended for a year as soon as you get a referral. But this would allow a quicker second adoption.

For a couple who knows for sure international adoption is how they want to create their whole family, this seems like an awesome option! Of course, it would be a financial challenge, having to pay for both adoptions in a relatively short period, but if you can come up with the money, you can save some time there...

As for ourselves, we’re still too unsure what our family is going to look like to get started on a second process. But I thought this piece of info could be great news for some families... If you’re interested, talk to your Alberta agency, they can tell you all about it!

Oh and, on an other note, it worked!!!!

Send Some Positive Thoughts!

Please, send all the positive thoughts and energy to A, who should know tomorrow if her IVF has worked. She and her husband have been waiting so long for their child. If it’s true that patience makes good parents, they will be the best in the world!

Where Are You?

We don’t know what life has in store for us. I would only be moderately surprised if we ended up adopting a Martian child.

But let’s play pretend for a second...

From what I have seen, the home study process can take a few months. Say we expect it could be done and ready to go by January at the earliest. March at the latest.

Then, we were told the quickest referral for a Sri Lankan child in Canada was 8 months, but it can take up to 2 years.

We have requested a baby less than 12 months old. Kids are available from 4 months on.

So if the home study takes really long, and our referral takes really long, we could get matched around March 2014. Let’s just say I’m not a big fan of this option...

On the other end, if the home study goes really quick and our referral goes really quick as well, we could get a referral around September 2012. If this is for a 4 months old baby, it would have been born in May 2012. It would have been conceived in August 2011! Maybe we have a little embryo, somewhere on the planet!

And if we get a quick home study and quick referral, and our child is 12 months old at the time of referral, it would have been born around September 2011. Yes. RIGHT NOW!!!

It’s completely crazy to not know if you have a child in this world...

Quick Update on Long Process

It's awesome how much progress we have made in the past little bit! I just hope it keeps going!

Since we have officially registered with our Home Study agency (the Alberta one), they have asked for a number of documents. We have to provide copies of everything and keep the originals to include in our dossier to Sri Lanka.
Our file contains:
- our Agency Registration Form
- copies of our RCMP checks
- copies of our Interpol checks
- a copy of our wedding certificate
- a copy of my birth certificate
- a copy of our approved International Adoption Application from the Alberta government
- a copy of my T4
- a copy of Pablo's Notice of Assessment
- a picture of us together
- a permission to check with Alberta Children Services if there was any intervention at our home
- forms filled by our 4 references

We are still missing:
- Pablo's birth certificate (it's on its way from Ecuador)
- Medical forms filled by our family doctor (we have an appointment on September 28)
- An employment letter from my employer
- International adoption training certificates (they are on their way)

Then, when we get our first meeting with the social worker, we need to present to them:
- our completed Home-Study Self Report (we still need to put it together)
- filled out copies of the SAFE questionnaire our agency has just sent us by mail (they are questionnaires about our relationship with our parents as we grew up, but they are multiple choice questions, so it's not too much work)
- Originals of all of the above

I think we may have killed a tree, with all that paperwork...
If everything goes as planned, we should hear from our social worker sometime next week... We can then book our first interview! Wooohooo!