The Process

Joseph and I were married in August of 2009. We enjoyed our first few years as a couple with work and fun, planning on pursuing parenthood somewhere along the 5 year route. With the introduction of the foster care option, it became much a part of our conversation, until the big Firefighting lay offs in 2011. Family talk was on the back burner. After Joseph started in his new insurance gig and all was well, we picked up where we left off, after he settled in routine. First it was conversations and questions. Lunch dates with my case-worker friend turned into mini-preparation sessions. We set up appointments at a few different agencies in late summer, early fall 2012. We chose and agency, started our paperwork, and signed up to start our foster class in January 2013!  Then....on Thanksgiving 2012 we found out about Joseph's new job, and move opportunity within his company. We sold our house, postponed our class, and packed up and moved to Phoenix in March 2013.
Right away we decided to touch base with the same agency in Phoenix, and they gave us the lowdown on an accelerated course in April..  baddabing ....we said OK! Ok not badda bing, more like badda "GAH yes NO...maybe...they want an email NOW... ahhhahhahhha.....hmmmmm yes? yes. YES." OK.

The course was to get us licensed to do foster care. It was called "Partnering for Safety and Permanence Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting: PS-MAPP."  We are also still undergoing paperwork for our certification for adoption. Fingerprints, background checks, references, home visits, our home inspection, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, homework, financial histories, physicals, etc. etc. Originally it is a 10 week course, we did it in 6. Which means Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-9 we were sitting in a classroom. It was sad, fun, informative, and frustrating all at the same time. The social work industry is a mess. That is no secret. We are hopefully set up with resources/ways to find resources to help this process be manageable. Nothing works better than prayer. 

 We do like our like our agency, and definitely feel supported as we embark on this interesting endeavor