Questions on our adoption application?

Gaia Raain II

1. Just write what you wrote here. However, once your homestudy is finished, you may want to get some experience with special needs kids. You can provide respite care for local foster parents, or look into volunteer opportunities locally. Try to get as educated and as experienced as possible about kids with the type of needs you feel able to handle. The more personal, hands-on experience you have, the better, but keep reading and researching.

2. My guess is that this question will be used to gauge your motivation for adoption - or that could be ONE of the purposes for this question. If it's all about you, what you want, what you feel, getting that perfect baybee for your heart's desire...you probably won't be accepted. If you're willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that WHATEVER child you're matched with has everything s/he needs, regardless of what may come up in the future, then you'll have a better chance of being approved. When adopting from foster care, their #1 priority is finding the best homes for children who need them - not the best child for adults who want them. If your priorities doesn't match with that, they'll be able to tell by your answer to this question.

3. If your state is like mine, this is just a quick application, and the in-depth homestudy follows later. So, just a quick list. For instance, my list would have included, "crafts, movies, reading, camping", etc. Anything you do as a family that would be fun for kids should probably be included on the list. If you do any volunteering, that should be on the list as well (and if you don't do any volunteering, you might want to start...it's good for the homestudy AND for the soul :-D).

Best of luck.

Mommy to 11 month old Jacob

For #1 I'd say just what you typed... that sounds perfect! Just say that We don't have experience w/ special needs children but do w/ other children and are willing to do whatever it takes to rise to the occasion w/ any needs our children may have. We believe we can handle any situation our child may need.

for #2 say that "we don't feel comfortable caring for a child w/ extreme special needs at this time" and list what you consider to be extreme.

for #3 just describe what your family is like, what you do together, hobbies and things of that nature.

Good luck!

Randy B

For the first question I was pretty much like you were. I did go back though and draw on some experience I had as a Scout leader and some of the training courses I had done for work but other then that I just left it open similar to how you did and stated my willingness to learn.

For the second question, I was torn like you were. We just listed a few things in general that we did not feel we were qualified or able to accommodate. For example, in our current home we could not, in all practical sense, accommodate someone with physical challenges. We would have to move or spend thousands and thousands to refit the house. We just included information like that

For question three, list just as you suggest, hobbies, family traditions, how you celebrate holidays and birthdays. We don't have any close family nearby so we noted that we have a tight circle of friends who we gather with to celebrate holidays and such. They just want to know more about you.

Keep in mind that this form is just a baseline for the home study worker to start from when he/she meets with you for the home study process. Our worker went through the forms ahead of time and came to us with a list of things she wanted to clarify or make sure we understood. It saves them form coming in cold and either not being able to do it properly or misjudging due to not enough info. Just answer as best as you can and the rest will come out or be clarified later on.

sweetjane

1. fine just the way you wrote it.
2. Your checklist covers many different behaviors and conditions, but this is where you describe in more detail what you don't feel you are capable of handling. We checked off fire starting and harming onesself on our checklist, but in this section, we talked about our biggest issues, which had to do with communication (for us). We wanted to adopt a child who would be able to communicate with us and who would be able to, potentially, live independently as an adult. Since we have animals, it was also important to discuss why a child who harmed animals wouldn't be a good fit with us. Pick your biggest issues--2-3 of them--and breifly discuss why you don't feel able to handle those issues in a potential child.
3. Who are you? This is a basic bio of who you are as a person, what you do and what you like to do. Practice writing it on another sheet of paper and then simply eliminate and downsize it until it is accurate and succinct enough for your liking. There is no set rule for how long it has to be. Just remember to be as truthful and as open as possible--since the entire purpose of this paperwork is to match a child to your family. Less is not more in this instance. The better they understand who you and your spouse are, the better they are able to determine what types of children would best benefit from being in your home.
Take care!
<<Foster-to-adopt mommy.

Sofiakat

If you have no first hand experience with special needs, but have some education about special needs, you can add that info under "knowledge."

Under conditions that I could not accept I only had one: Hurting/harming/killing pets and animals.
Ironically, that is exactly what my son had done to my pets the first year. And yes, he did it deliberately. It was my one trigger. It was the only one I thought would be a deal breaker for me...guess what....it wasn't. There was no way in the whole world that I would have abandoned he for what he did. It did disturb me and hurt me and confuse me and anger me and sadden me, but it made me realize that I needed to work even harder than I ever thought to help he vocalize his pain. God, I love this child more than anything!
3. We were very detailed in ours but to the point as well.
We included who are most important relationships were with, our individual and together hobbies, our jobs, and the top three most important things to us. Mine were : music, animal welfare, and my marriage.

Good luck on your journey and don't forget to start researching about how fostercare effects children and how adoption effects children!

mary jane g

Good questions! Number one, always be truthful! It's okay to not have experience and many children coming out of foster care have severe needs you may not be able to handle. The ? about conditions or behaviors, I always wrote that I was willing to consider all conditions and discuss with the child's case worker my ability to parent the child(ren). #3 the more info you give them the better. Remember they are not looking for super parents. Most caseworkers are looking for the average family who is able to love the child as their own - forever! Best of luck to you!

corcoranfaire

Say whatever you think covers what you want to say.

1. If you have other children, you might have delt with special needs (like nebulizer treatments, ADHD, cleft palet). Just describe what you have exerience with.

2. For example: Extreme special needs, children that would not be able to live independantly when they are older, fire starters, or children that injure pets or others.

3. A few paragraphs should do about each person in your family, what you like to do in your spare time (are you always at the sports field, shopping, watching tv, or on the computer). They try to have the best fit of children and parents, so might not want homebodies for really active children.

For whatever you write, they will ask questions in the homestudy about it. It is all about making sure they get the best parent and child fit when they do a placement.

Derrica

Well Jennifer I myself adopted a baby girl 6 years ago and it is not as complicated as it seems. Just fill out from your heart and be as truthful as possible. You must 1st remember that you are doing this from the heart and there is really no wrong answers. God bless you and your family as well remember that your case worker is there to help you and adoption attorney as well.

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