The phone call was, as the title to this post indicates, first contact. It was like having a very informal interview over the phone. The social worker asked about Louise and myself; she asked searching questions about how long we've been married, whether we were looking for a child from a particular culture, stuff like that.
So, even at this early stage, we're being assessed. I kind of expected it to be this way; to enter into adoption we need to be properly screened. A child's welfare is at stake (and ours I guess!).
After the questions came a whole load of information about the 3 stages towards adoption. In a nutshell they are:
1. Screening
2. Placement of a child
3. Legal side of the adoption
Each stage comes with quite a cost. When I was hearing all the figures being spoken off, it felt a bit weird, almost like "this is how much it's going to cost for a child"! It felt weird at first, but on reflection, it was a conversation that I was grateful to have. All the costs involved, and they are quite considerable; all the costs are literally the cost of the service that is being provided and the court/legal costs. Louise and I know that their will be a financial outlay involved in this process, but we also know that God is calling us to adopt, and He will provide all we need.
So, all in all, this first contact, this phone call to the social worker, was good. It's now for Louise and I to discuss this first stage, consider the way forward; and when we are ready, we will need to make an appointment for our first, more formal get together with the social worker.
Knowing where Louise and I are in our thinking, I probably could have asked for a date today! But let's not rush things, reflection time is important.
Updates on our progress will follow, so please check my blog from time to time, and you'll know all that is happening!
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