Meeting Leyla

We got signed up for the informational class. It was a Friday afternoon and we decided to take the afternoon off after the class so we could talk about what we had heard. With me needing another day off that meant another talk with Jackson about what was going on. In talking with him he was very supportive he knew how important this was for me and my husband so I think if I said I wanted to fly to the moon to bring home an alien baby he would have agreed and brainstormed with me on how to get to the moon. He told me to do what we needed to do. Before I left his office that day he told me that a coworker of mine, Rebecca, had been a social worker prior to being in real estate and he suggested I talk to her about all of this.

I didn't know Rebecca well enough at the time to just go sit at her desk and tell my story. I am not one that trusts people very easily to begin with. I like to listen more than I like to talk. I also didn't know how to even bring it up to her but I did find it interesting she had been a social worker. Was this God working? I decided that if we were going to go down this path after we went to the initial meeting maybe I would talk to her about.

In the mean time I had come up with a list of questions for the pastor's wife and I got her on the phone to go over my list. I had talked about wanting an infant and she didn't know much about the way that worked because her kids were elementary school age. We talked a lot about how much her kids had been through at such a young age and how they were handling all of it as parents. She told me to start thinking about what we could deal with and what we couldn't as far as how the child had been abused or neglected. Then I asked her about the cost...this is what was really holding me back in my mind. I just couldn't see us coming up with the 30K to adopt. Then she said it, she gave me the answer I needed to move forward....you only have to pay court fees...she said they only paid like $300.00 to adopt her kids. That's when my heart skipped a beat. I was excited about this option. Maybe we finally found our answer. Maybe this is how we would be parents....and then there was hope in my heart again. It seemed like a real possibility now.

As we sat in the informational meeting we looked around the room at all the people that were there. Some people were there to adopt a family members child, usually because of drug use by the parent. Some were there to be foster parents...others were already parents they just wanted to provide a loving home for a needy child...and then there was us...we were the only couple that day that couldn't have children and wanted to adopt through social services. It was also the first time we announced to total strangers we were in this situation. I got teary eyed just saying it out loud and the social worker, Leyla, that was hosting the event saw the pain in my eyes...she gave me a sympathetic look as she listened.

We listened to Leyla tell us how it all worked. We were going to have to take 40 hours of training. This included CPR and First Aid....then on top of that we would have to have physicals, a home study and our financials looked at....if and when we were approved we would be considered legal risk parents because we wanted an infant. Basically what that means is if an infant comes into the system they want to place the infant in a long term home right away so that the child isn't bounced around at such a small age when learning to bond is so crucial. Once they assess the situation and determine if the child is going to be returned to his or her biological parents they decided if they should keep the child in foster care until they return to the biological parents or put them in a legal risk home because the case looks like the parents rights are going to be terminated.

There was so much information give to us that day from stats about how many kids are in foster care to stuff we would have to accomplish to get a child. We left with our heads spinning. We took notes...and we discussed every word that was said...we were given stuff to read and then we heard Leyla's story about how she adopted her children thru the system as a single mother. It was information over load.

After the meeting we went to lunch. We talked about it for hours. All the possibilities and the risks. We calculated time off for all these training and we tried to look at it without any emotions....more like a business deal. But you could see it in both our eyes we were excited again. We saw parenthood in our future again....we weren't afraid of anything that was said...we were excited. That is when my husband stepped out in faith before I did...he said when is the next meeting...I will need to get the time off. And with his faith I just followed...full of fear...but I followed. Now it was time for me to talk to Rebecca.