Fotorny Family Adoption

An easy way to keep friends and family updated on our adoption process.

The Rough Draft

tfotorny | May 08, 2008 04:09

Tonight we received the rough draft of our home study report!!!   I read through it last night and Scott will read through it tonight.  I hope to make any corrections and get it emailed back to him by tomorrow.  We're one step closer!

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The Waiting Game

tfotorny | April 30, 2008 08:28

We're still playing the waiting game and trying to be patient. The social worker is typing up our home study report and hopefully soon we will get to proof it, and get it approved.  We have several kids we're interested in but we can't get many details about them until we get our approval.  We bought a bed for her last weekend.  That was exciting.  Now, we're going to start working on reorganizing the boys' room to make better use of the space for them.  And we need to reorganize toys.  We also hope to get rid of unnecessary stuff, extra stuff, things the kids have outgrown, and things we don't use/need anymore.  It's amazing how much stuff we have accumulated over 11 years.  

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The Home Study

tfotorny | April 12, 2008 13:42

April 12, 2008

Today we had our home study done. The social worker was extremely nice and friendly, and very easy to talk to.  It was three hours of sitting at the kitchen table answering questions.  We basically told him our life stories from the time we were born up to the present, about our families, and our childhood.  Then we went through our schooling,our job histories, how we met each other, what made us decide to marry each other, what our marriage is like, our hobbies, lifestyle, parenting style, discipline procedures.  We had to describe each other and our kids. He talked to the boys about how they feel about the adoption. We even had to give a description of what we do on a typical day from the time we wake up until we go to bed (he even wanted to know what time we got up and what time we went to sleep).  We listed what we like to do for fun as a family, as a couple, etc.  We went through medical histories, finances, insurances, etc.  We had to tell why we are choosing to adopt, how our families and friends feel about the adoption, etc.  I gave him the profile I typed up about our lives (complete with some pictures) -- it was kind of like a family resume -- our lives in a nutshell.  He was very impressed with it.  I think that's everything (I may have forgotten something) and then 5 to 10 minutes he walked through the house to take a quick look. The home study went really well.  He told us as he was leaving that we had two very well behaved and nice boys. He is going to type up his report and email it to us to review.  We can change something if we want to.  Then when we send it back to him, he'll finalize and type it up officially.  Once that's done, then we will be able to actively look at children and we'll be able to actually inquire about the child's specific details.  Then if we find a child we are interested in, the child's social worker (or adoption agency) will review our profile and decide if we'd be a good match. I'm not sure how long it will take him to complete and finalize the home study.  Everything I've read online says the home study takes 120 days to complete but I think it will be done next month.  Thank you to everyone who prayed for us today and for all the encouraging emails!

 

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4/11/08

tfotorny | April 11, 2008 12:08

April 11, 2008
     Tomorrow is our home study!!

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4/5/08

tfotorny | April 05, 2008 17:13

Today we received Scott's fingerprint letter. We also received the contract with Adopt America Network (AAN) which we need to sign and return.  The contract is for the grant we are receiving from AAN to help cover some of the cost of the homestudy. This week will be spent cleaning and straightening up around the house for the homestudy this coming Saturday.  

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4/4/08

tfotorny | April 04, 2008 12:49

I received my fingerprint report back already.  We were told it would take 4-6 weeks to get our letters stating that there weren't any criminal records connected to us.  But according to the date on my letter, it only took a week to process.  We are still waiting on getting Scott's letter. Hopefully it will come soon.                                

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4/3/08

tfotorny | April 03, 2008 07:29

April 3, 2008

This adoption process is turning out to be a real test of my patience.  Overall, I'm doing really well.  I have my moments when I get really anxious because I just want to get my daughter and begin loving her.  I love her already and I don't even know who she is yet.  We can't inquire yet about any girls we're interested in until we have our homestudy completed.  I'm excited to announce that we have our homestudy scheduled for April 12th!!!  The homestudy will take about 3 hours to do.  The social worker sounds very nice and easy to talk to.  And I can say I'm not freaked out about this part of the process (I was freaked out about it months ago).  It's exciting that this is actually starting to happen.  I'm not sure how long the homestudy will take to process (according to what I've read on the Internet it can take up to 120 days to complete).  Hopefully it won't take that long but at least I'm prepared to be "patient" to get our approval.  Please continue to pray for our family and that God will lead us to our daughter.  We appreciate your prayer support for us!

     

 

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3/24/08

tfotorny | April 03, 2008 07:24

March 24, 2008

There's only three places where you can get fingerprinted here in our general area.  One place conveniently is at PSU where Scott works.  So today the boys and I picked Scott up from work and we walked over to the place to get fingerprinted.  It was a bit expensive but oh well, it needs to be done.  It felt strange getting fingerprinted.  It was a neat process though that the boys enjoyed seeing -- they scan your fingerprints into a computer so no more messy ink pads. 

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Update from 3/15/08

tfotorny | April 03, 2008 07:18

We got all of our paperwork turned in and were waiting for the homestudy to be scheduled.  Then we received an email stating that a new Pennsylvania law, as of Jan.1, 2008, requires that all perspective adoptive parents (and anyone working with children) must be fingerprinted along with the background checks.  Another  delay.  Our new family motto is "another delay but it's okay!"  Kind of cheesy, but hey, it works.  

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Update from 2/21/08

tfotorny | April 03, 2008 07:15

February 21, 2008
        There's not much that has changed with the adoption process since our last email.  We're still doing some paperwork -- it's more of a "gathering" of paperwork.  We need to have physicals and it took me a month to get mine scheduled for the beginning of February but thanks to an ice storm that day, I had to be rescheduled and the next opening is tomorrow.  Of course, the weather forecast is calling for a snow and ice storm again tomorrow!  It's very frustrating for me because my schedule really limits what days I can schedule appointments on.  So we'll see if I'm able to get out tomorrow for the appointment.  I'm trying very hard to take it all in stride and to be patient.  We're waiting on grant approval from the national adoption agency to find out how much they will pay towards our home study.  We know we're approved, but we just don't know how much money they will contribute or when we'll find out.  As soon as our local adoption agency gets the grant contract from the national agency, then our home study will be scheduled.  The home study is when they come to our house and inspect it, and they'll also interview our family -- basically put us under the microscope. 
          We are connected with an adoption support network based in State College, PA.  It's a group of families who are going through the adoption process now or who have already adopted.  We have gotten some emails regarding the struggles some of the families are having with their adopted child.  It could really scare us and discourage us into not adopting if we allowed it.  But we strongly feel the Lord is calling us to adopt.  This is something our family truly wants as well.  The enemy wants nothing more than to discourage us through the "horror" stories of another family's struggles, or through delays in appointments and paperwork, etc.  One family wrote how there's a spiritual battle waging against them because Satan doesn't want a child to be set free through adoption.  There's a spiritual battle going on over our future daughter and our family as we carry out God's plan to bring a little girl into our family.  Please pray for our family and for our future daughter. 
Prayer Requests:
  • For our family to stand strong in the spiritual battle, and that we won't get discouraged with delays, stories, etc.
  • For God to clearly reveal to us who our daughter will be and where she is.
  • That God will be working on her heart now, and ours, in order to prepare her and us to be a family.
  • For paperwork and appointments to come together in God's timing.
We thank you for your continued prayer support for our family. 

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