Adoptions don’t happen without a homestudy. Most people imagine this as a visit where a social worker comes to your home and checks every inch of it for dust and clutter to make sure you’ll be a good parent. Candles, homemade cookies, and a perfectly clean house are a must. A homestudy is actually a process that takes a few months, and includes a home visit, as well as FBI finger prints, Georgia sex registry/parole registry/inmate registry searches, recommendation letters from friends and family, and a deeper look into your finances than any of your friends know about. I might be the very first prospective future adoptive momma who did not bake cookies for their social worker. I absolutely don’t have time to pretend to be a better mom than I am. It was only fitting that our scheduled visit happened on my first day back to work from the holidays, the kiddos first day back to school, and on a day that my van stopped being reliable transportation. We don’t have time to pretend to be an amazing family. We are parents who 100% love our kids with every ounce of our being and provide them a safe, loving home every day of their lives. Homemade cookies are icing on the cake, and definitely don’t happen every day! 🙂 We have a lot of chaos and a lot of clutter in our family and our house, but I believe that our family has plenty of love and snuggles to give and a safe, warm home ready to welcome a sweet new baby to the chaos that is our family.
Our kids were so excited to tell Mrs. Kelly (the social worker) about our family, our plans to adopt a baby, and to show her our house. Liam was literally bouncing off the walls excited.
We are in no rush for this process. We plan to work with an attorney in another state, instead of an agency. We’ve been warned that many birthmoms will not choose us, because we already have kids (several kids!). Our plan is to have our homestudy in place so that when the time comes, or the right situation arises, we are ready and not held back by logistical stuff. When our baby is born, we will be ready. We do not *need* a baby. We need to be a family for a baby that does *need* a mom, a dad, and some super cute siblings.
Tonight, we check off the home visit portion of our homestudy off our list. We have two meetings that will take place in Marietta, at the corporate office of Options 4 Adoption, to complete our homestudy. (In addition to completing the paperwork- including medical exam, drug test, FBI fingerprints, 911 record search, etc.).
I’m falling asleep as I type this, so I think it’s a good time to sign off.
My heart is so excited to dream about Baby Brooks #4. Tonight, I am praying for him/her and it’s sweet momma that could have easily made the choice to end an unwanted pregnancy, but instead chose to give her baby life. We are excited to take that baton and help guide her sweet baby and guide him/her through life, always knowing the love of a family! #laterpost #homestudy #homevisit #adoption
To follow our journey, share our story or make a donation, visit our you caring page @ https://www.youcaring.com/brooksfamily-1022176 ❤❤❤
The Brooks Family 