Process of picking out the child

Now that we are officially certified adoptive parents, we can start to pick out the children! We started out wanting a boy and girl sibling group and then just one girl. We found a 10 year old girl we are interested in and we asked to be considered for her about a week ago. Then, yesterday, my hubby was interested in a sibling group of 3 girls. So funny, because my hubby was so set on just adding one to our family. Now, he is looking at adding 3! Shocking, but so sweet! He told me that if he could protect 3 girls from continuuing to get abused, then he would do it. But, we found out one of the girls has special needs. We're not sure if our family can handle that. We will just have to continue to pray. It's funny that I have seen so many adoptive families start off with wanting something specific only to end up adopting something totally different. You never know what the Lord has in mind.

This is how the process works from here on out. I am writing this post because we were told something totally different in the beginning. 6 months later, we were finally told how the process works. First, we look through the pages of children online or through emails sent to us. As a family, we pick out who we might be interested in. We see a short description of the child including: emotional, physical, and developmental needs. That's it. So, we pick out the child or children and put in a request to be considered for those children.

Next, the child's case worker looks through our applications to see which 3 families are the best choice for this child. Yes, can you believe there are more than 3 families. Each family in Texas has their own adoption worker. Now, each adoption worker from those 3 families plus the child's case worker get together to determine which family should be chosen.

Once they determine the top family, that family gets a folder of the child's entire life - what they know of him or her. Wow, you find out everything about the child including what kind of abuse they experienced! Then, after all that, the family decides if they are still interested. If they are interested, they set up a meeting date with the child and the adoptive family. If the family is not interested, they move onto another child and the process starts all over again.

I don't know about you, but that is one long process just to find out more information on a child. It seems like they could come up with an alternative process? Seems like more work for the workers than necessary.