Getting started

We submitted our application to Adoptions Together on November 27th, 2004. We were very excited about getting the long process started. About one week later we got a thick blue book in the mail jammed packed with information regarding the adoption process and international adoptions. Anne could not wait to read through the information. The information presented painted a very real picture international adoptions with all its ups and downs. We knew the road ahead of us would be filled with paperwork and headaches as we waited for the arrival of our daughter.

We told Katie and Nick about their new sister on December 3rd. They were both excited with Katie stating she always wanted to be a big sister. We met with the social worker who would be completing the home study on December 18th. She gave us a huge packet of information and went through each form with us.

We took advantage of the week off between Christmas and New Year's to get fingerprinted, tested for HIV and TB, and to start gathering the paperwork. We scheduled our fire inspection and santiation inspection, went to the doctors, and gathered all the paperwork in no time- thanks to Anne's organizational skills!!

Our social worker completed four home visits interviewing each of us, Katie and Janet and Bob (one of our references) on February 26th. She informed us on February 26th that Katie would need a physical before she could submit our paperwork. This was not what she had stated previously. We were told that we only needed her medical records. Katie was a trooper and we got her to the doctors on March 12th, the same day we were celebrating her 9th birthday. This would be our first of many bumps in the road. Hopefully the home study will be completed soon so we can get on to the next phase of the journey.