Homestudy No. 1

We are just settling back in at home after a day of traveling to our first homestudy interview! We are so excited to be officially in the process and are eager to enter the waiting phase. We have a LOT of homework to do before our next Homestudy visit.

We decided to document this journey on the Cottage blog so that we have place for all of our family and friends to share in this process with us. Also, since the documentation that we had with Em was totally different. Maternity pictures, ultrasounds to share, a dried out pregnancy test in a little box that Em will never want to see (HA!). We wanted to have a special way to document our journey for our future baby, too!

As we mentioned in our announcement post, we are hoping to adopt through Catholic Charities & they are who we are using to complete our homestudy.

One thing that was shared with us today was a list of the terms we will be hearing through the process, terms you will most likely hear us say as well. Homestudy, for instance! We thought it would be great to share this list with you. Maybe you are part of our family & friends group that will be walking through this journey with us, or maybe you are considering adoption yourselves! You will find some of the key terms to our process in bold.

Adoption Dictionary

Adoption Agreement: a document in with birth and adoptive parents agree to a place which outlines the degree of communication between them

Adoption Plan: Refers to the birthparents' decision to allow their child to grow up in an adoptive family

Adoption Social Worker: a trained professional who counsels birth and adoptive parents regarding adoption and parenting

Adoption Triad: Birthparents, adoptive parents and adopted child

Adoptive parents: persons who adopt a child

At-risk Placement: the placement of a child into a family when birthparents rights have not yet been legally severed or when rights have been severed but the appeal period has not expired.

Birthparents: biological or genetic parents of a child

Direct Consent Adoption: an adoption where rights are transferred directly from the birthparents to the adoptive parents

Direct Placement: This occurred when waiting families receive the infant immediately after discharge from the hospital

Disrupted Adoption: an adoption that fails before or after finalization

Domestic Adoption: The adoption of a child who is born in the United States

Home Study: a series of interviews, both joint an individual, and a home visit that are part of the pre-adoption process for adoptive families

Finalization: the legal process which makes the adoption permanent and binding

Final order of adoption: a document which states the child is legally adopted by a specific family

Interim care: a temporary, loving home for an infant while the birthparents make a final decision regarding adoption or parenting

Identifying information: information about the members of the adoption triad such as full names and addresses

Independent adoption: an adoption whee the child is place directly with the adoptive couple, usually through an attorney or intermediary, with out preadoption counseling for the birthparents or the adoptive couple

Intake: the adoptive family provides information to the agency in order to start the adoption process

Interstate compact: a law that requires written notice of the intention to place a child from one state for adoption or foster care with a family in another state

Non-identifying information: information which allows the members of the adoption triad to know something about each other, but does not directly identify them to each other. first names, physical descriptions, occupations, education, personality characteristics, hobbies, interest and religious affiliation are examples of non-identifying information

Open adoption: an adoption plan in which identifying information about birth and adoptive families is openly shared and there is ongoing contact after placement occurs

Post-placement counseling: counseling offered to adoptive families and birthparents after a child is placed for adoption

Post-placement reports: after a child is placed with an adoptive family, a social worker must visit the family and submit a report to the courts. the number of visits and reports varies from state to state

Pre-placement counseling: counseling provided to prepare birthparents for the release of their child and to prepare adoptive couples for adoptive parenthood

Profile: pictures and information that introduce a prospective adoptive family to birthparents

Semi-open adoption: an adoption where there is a planned communication, spelled out in a written agreement that takes place between the adoptive and birthparents while the child is growing up. the agreement and subsequent communications are arranged through a third party, a mediator, who is sensitive to the issues of both families

Special needs adoption: this phrase refers to children who have physical or emotional challenges, who are older children, or who are members of a sibling group or racial minority

Traditional agency adoption: an adoption where an agency identifies and brings together birthparents, children and adoptive parents

Voluntary termination of rights: a situation where birthparents have chose to legally relinquish their parental rights

Waiting families: families waiting to adopt a child

xo- Kate

ps: only TWO days left to snag a tshirt from our fundraiser