Visit 1

Our entrance today.....

We had visit #1 today with our SW. She was in our home a little over 4 hours gathering information and typing into her laptop. It was a nice and relaxing visit and nothing that worked my nerves. We were all relaxed very comfortable. It is funny how things seem like a repeat when you are going through the process again, but with a different agency. It was pretty painless. Our SW was older and seasoned and professional. She is working to have this report completed quickly.

She did not take a look throughout our home until the very end. She was very courteous and very observant without looking through our home upon her arrival. I pay attention to everything! I also think because she is older and has been doing this for a while that she did not want to immediately come in our home walking around before talking to us face to face and getting to know us, although, we had spoken on the phone once before. I can appreciate the fact that she wanted us to warm up to her and talk with her before she started strolling through our personal spaces. I did not mind at all because we had been through this before and we expected to have our personal spaces invaded during this important process.

She told me that basically she only needed to see the room that we have for a baby to ensure that we have a room set a side. From that point on, the home tour took place. We were already on the main level and then we went upstairs and then we went to the basement last. She loved the nursery and saw that we were more than prepared for a child or toddler. She said that on the 2nd visit, which will be our last visit, she will test the C02 detectors and smoke detectors. I pointed them all out, however, she will check the functionality of the detectors on the next visit. Her next visit will be after we complete the classes. She will actually be one of the instructors for the class which is awesome.

One of my next door neighbors came by to notarize one of the documents that she needed notarized. She told me when she arrived that it is a form that we will have to notarize with all 3 of us. I called my neighbor who is an attorney and she came over after she got out of court and notarized the documents for us. The SW had an opportunity to meet her briefly and see our relationship as well. She was a little tickled that she returned my call so quickly when I called her and then agreed to come by and notarize the document on short notice. I guess she realized at that point that we are all pretty close knit once she arrived.

We also had an opportunity to discuss the baby that we are interested in adopting. I waited until the end to advise her of how we came to where we are. She will be following up with the child's case worker to make sure that the case worker knows that there is a family interested in adopting the child. She stated that this was very important because the information needed to to be given to the right people so that things do not slip through and we miss the opportunity. We did discuss us being open to birth through 2 years old and she stated that sometimes it happens right away and sometimes it takes a short while, however, she also stated as we did

" What is for us, will be for us."

After she saw our home, from top to bottom, I took her out on the deck and we stood there for a minute so that she could see the back yard and greenery. She loved it and as she walked back inside our home, she stated that all we were missing were little ones inside our home and she commented on how well appointed our home was and that my husband and I had done a beautiful job. I did appreciate the compliment though!

While I was not looking for any feedback on our home's decor, it is good to hear from a SW that comes in your home to like it because they go in so many homes and you want them to feel like it is child friendly home and a nice home for raising children.

Our home reflects our taste and style totally. I think that most people are on edge when the SW's come to their home because they want to definitely have a home that is presentable, no matter the size of the home or cost. It needs to be functional and presentable to someone coming in looking at your way and standard of living, to an extent.

She even saw a picture of little Miss Sunshine and wanted to see more. I took her into the office and pulled up iphoto so that she could see some different pictures of little Miss Sunshine and I think she was amazed just with all of the pictures that we had from so many different events organized in the computer. My husband and I shared our experiences with her about the period that she lived with us earlier this year and she understood our involvement. She said that she could see how happy this child was while living with us as well. She saw pictures of her before we had her and while we had her.

I also wanted to note that they have an eye for everything when they come into your home. She paid attention to small details such as pictures of family members, god kids, greeting cards out etc. I noticed how she would see something and walk up on it and look at it and smile. Little things drew her attention. She also noted the fact that she liked how we are in a cul de sac and have the back yard space and side yard space. She also noted that we had safety gates available to use in the home as well. She saw them in the basement with all of the extra nursery items packed away and a gate that we had in the nursery tucked in a corner. We also had a gate on our deck to secure the steps.

Anyway, thats all I can think of right now. I am very, very tired because we stayed up kind of late last night just trying to make sure all was in order for the visit.

The two things that she did mention was that it was mandatory for the home to have a particular type of fire extinguisher and to have a first aid kit in a stationary location. Of course we had already discussed the electrical outlets, cabinet locks and smoke detectors. That was all evident. So, when she returns for the last visit, she will test the detectors and make sure that our first aid kit is in a central or stationary location. We have fire extinguishers, however, I need to confirm that they are ABC extinguishers as requested from the agency.

Our classes begin next week and I will post more then. We have four evening classes and one Saturday class. I am sure that I will have updates between now and while we are in the classes. We will be completed with classes before the end of this month. The process will be completed at that point. Everything else was done earlier this summer. The class is the last thing that you take before getting a placement.

Stay tuned....