The paperwork process....

Well, I can hardly believe it but it's been almost 8 months since we began the adoption process.  Once we weighed the options of which countries we could and could not apply to and finally decided on The Philippines, we were able to begin the official paperwork.  There was ALOT of it.  There was the formal application, the dossier and the home study to complete before we could be officially approved.

The formal application was the easy part.  The dossier was another story.  This packet of information included references, autobiographies (from each of us), medical exams, psychological exams, drug tests, criminal checks, financial statements and photos.  In the end it was about 30 pages long.  Needless to say we are healthy, drug free, upstanding citizens!

The homestudy consisted of 4 homevisits from our BCS Social Worker Kim.  Each time she came she asked questions, looked over the house and dug deep into not only our current and future situation but also our childhoods.  She even interviewed the boys.  I was a bit nervous about the home visits. It was good for us to experience but hard to wait to hear if someone approves of you and the life you lead.  In case you wondered, they decided we are okay ;)

We were hoping our paperwork would have been sent to the Philippines already but unfortunately, due to changes and delays, it is still sitting in the US.