A walk down memory lane

Last night The Professor and I went to the non-profit agency we used for our foster-care adoption. We were asked to come and speak on the last night of the current PRIDE class (the class required if you want to become licensed for foster care and/or foster-care adoption). We’ve spoken at two of those meetings since we’ve adopted our girls and what a great experienced to be able to give back, to look out into that classroom and see those faces – I remember being there. 

I vividly remember sitting in that room the night that families came to talk to us. I hung on their every word, listening intently to the trials and triumphs of those families and hoping that’d we be in their shoes quickly. We’d already waited a long time to start a family and I was admittedly impatient. 

Sitting there brought back all of those emotions. The excitement, the fear, the anxiety, all of it. What would the home study be like? What about the fire and health inspections of our house? And, of course, the biggest fear when you jump into foster care – what if they take the kids away from me? It was a fear that plagued us until the adoption was finalized. But that’s a whole ‘nother blog. 

As we listened to the other families there, I was struck by the thought that we walked through fire to build our family, but I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Our girls are so perfect for us. They’re so like us too, we often forget that there are not genetics involved. Busybee is chipper and talkative like The Professor. Babybee is an introvert and so precise that it’s sometimes like looking in a mirror. 

We also talked on the way home about whether or not we’re done. It’s so tempting to renew our license, to get back in the “game” and get at least one more kiddo. It seems wrong not too, but of course we have to take our girls into consideration. But there are so many kids out there and when I’m back in that world, back at the agency, they’re so hard to ignore. 

All adoptions come with misconceptions, but I know that foster-care adoption carries the weight of the stigmas. All you have to do is watch an episode of Criminal Minds or Law & Order and nearly every “perp” has a history of being in and out of foster care. The media paints the picture that the foster care system is full of nothing by juvenile delinquents. So I ask you, what misconceptions have you heard about adoption or foster-care?