Today we drove out to Sacramento to get our "Live Scan" fingerprints done. Whenever I (Tania) get fingerprinted I find it so fascinating... maybe I'm a geek, I don't know... but the way that everyone's fingerprint patterns are so unique that there's no possibility of an exact match with someone else, and how technology can track is just amazing! It's crazy how a bunch of squiggly lines on your finger can be so significant to our criminal justice system.
Fingerprinting is part of the home study process. Potential adoptive parents are checked for a criminal background through both the FBI and Department of Justice databases. Interestingly, an international check isn't required, even though we've lived overseas. Though we don't have anything to "find" through an international check, it's a little disturbing that they don't require one... don't you think they would want to check out people who have lived overseas for long periods of time to see what they were up to?? Hmm... hopefully that comes together soon and gets into the requirements somehow.
Here's a snapshot of our "fingers" at the fingerprint office. :)
We're off to Cambodia on Sunday!
An additional question we've been "frequently asked" lately is regarding fertility...
Are you adopting because of infertility? As far as we know, we do not have any medical infertility issues. For us, adoption is something we've wanted to do for several years in order to grow our family. We understand some couples choose to adopt after facing infertility, and that's great, just not our situation.
We didn't choose adoption because we are "heroes" or because it "saves" children. We are adopting because we are ready to start a family, and adoption provides an opportunity for children to grow up in a stable and loving home when their birthparents are not able to care for them. It is our belief that adoption is the heart of God, and it is also our heart. Is adoption for everyone? Probably not. Is it for us? We believe so!
We recently finished reading a book called "The Adoption Decision" by Laura Christianson. As we read, we were surprised at the number of adoption stories Christianson pointed to in the Bible - stories many of us have heard about for years, but perhaps have overlooked the "adoption" part:
- Esther was adopted by her older cousin, Mordecai
- Moses was adopted by the Pharoah's daughter, Jochebed
- David informally adopts Jonathan's special needs son, Mephibosheth
- Joseph was an adoptive father to Jesus
- Christ offers to adopt all of us as His children
Thanks so much for your prayers & support.
That's right... We're adopting... and we're super excited! There is a long journey ahead of us - most likely with lots of challenges along the way - but we are excited about what the Lord is going to do throughout the process.
Our intention for this blog is to: 1) provide a way for family & friends to keep up with the adoption process; 2) to keep us occupied once we start "waiting" to be matched; and 3) to have some real "in the moment" commentary that we and our child can look back on in the future (we just found out that blogs can even be published into books once they're finished up!).
To start out, we thought we'd answer some frequently asked questions about our plans:
- Domestic or International? We will be adopting a baby from within the United States, making this a "domestic adoption".
- What organization or agency are you using? After a great deal of research and asking around, we've chosen to pursue adoption through Pact, An Adoption Alliance in Oakland. In partnership with Pact, Adopt International will conduct our home study.
- How old? Our child will most likely be a newborn and we will probably get to bring the child home from the hospital!
- What about gender and race? We have chosen to adopt a child of any gender, and any race. Pact specifically focuses on placing infants of color, so we will most likely be placed with a child from a race different than our own. Pact is GREAT at helping adoptive parents address issues pertaining to raising a child with a different racial, cultural and/or ethnic heritage.
- Open or closed? We have chosen to pursue an open adoption. This means: 1) Our child's birthparents will select us; 2) We will likely either speak with or meet the birthparents before the child is born; 3) We will exchange personal information with our child's birthparents; and 4) We will maintain relationship with them throughout our child's life, and encourage our child to learn about their biological roots. Research demonstrates open adoption is often the most beneficial for everyone involved in an adoption, especially the child.
- How long will it take? This is a difficult question to answer since we will be chosen by our child's birthparents, and we don't know when that will happen. However, Pact usually places within 6 to 12 months.
- Isn't adoption expensive? It can be! Thankfully, Pact allows us to put a "limit" on how much we are willing to spend, and we will only be presented to situations that cater to our spending preferences. Adoption costs within the United States can vary from anything from $1,500 (usually fost-adopt) to $50,000! One very important piece of the puzzle is that adoptive parents can claim up to $13,000 in tax credits during the year the adoption is finalized. Because of this tax credit, we are able to adopt. The adoption we are pursuing will most likely cost between $10,000 and $16,000 - leaving only a couple thousand after the credit. (Of course, pray this ends up on the lower end!)
- Where are we in the process as of today? We have officially become clients of Pact, and are currently finishing up paperwork to send to our home study agency. Since we are off to visit Cambodia on Nov. 1 for three weeks, we hope to get all of our paperwork in before we leave and then schedule our first home visits for when we return.
Hopefully this answers some of your questions.
We certainly appreciate your thoughts and prayers throughout the process!
