Monday, February 22, 2010

FAQs

Today we had our first face-to-face meeting with our case worker. She filled us in on plenty of questions that we had, and over the past few days we've been answering a lot of questions that our friends and family have had. Here's a short list of frequently asked questions and their answers, to the best of our knowledge. Thanks for asking, and thanks for caring so much about our process!

How long will this process take? We will receive our referral (the name and information about our child) about 12 months after our final home study. It's looking like our home studies will wrap up by mid-March. After those 12 months, we have about 3 months, give or take a month, until we are able to pick up the baby.

How old will the child be? We have requested "as young as possible." Families usually can adopt a baby between 5-12 months old.

Will the baby be a boy or a girl? There are more boys waiting than girls, though the ratio is not extreme. Because we have two girls, odds are that we would be able to adopt a boy if we preferred to. However, we've decided that God will give us the child we are meant to have, and honestly we don't want to make that call.

What will you name the baby? The baby will obviously have a name, and we plan to use his or her birth name as his or her middle name. We will probably call the baby by both his or her first and middle name for awhile, to help him or her feel more comfortable. If the baby is a boy, his name will be Peter. If the baby is a girl, Johanne (pronounced 'Yo-hann-eh'). (Johanne is the name of a friend who lives in Denmark, and we've loved it since we considered it for our first two girls. It also goes nicely with their Scandinavian names, we think. Peter is, well, the rock. :)

Will you travel to South Korea? Yes, Trevor and I will travel there together to pick up the baby.
How long do you have to stay? About a week, maybe less.

Is the baby in an orphanage until you pick him or her up? No. The baby will be living with foster parents.

Are you telling the girls? No, not until we receive our referral.

How secure is this program? Very. Our agency has been working with this orphanage (there is an orphanage, but they place babies into foster care when possible) since 1982.

No comments: