Matched

I wish my memory was better.  I wish I remembered things the way so many others can.  My sister seemingly remembers every detail of our childhood.  I seemingly remember almost none of it.  What I’m trying to say here is that I’m foggy about some of what I’m about to say, because it happened almost a year ago. (Of course, I’d be foggy about it even had it occurred last week, but whatever.)

When we were going through all the pre-certification stuff for fostering, we had a social worker at our house to do a home study.  She went through our house to make sure it met whatever official physical standards there are for a foster home.  She interviewed Robyn and me to make sure we weren’t overly creepy, and kinda-sorta interviewed Toby and Aimee as well.

Toby was some combination of shy and a superhero.  Aimee was just some combination of shy and obsessed with her babydolls.  Our social worker asked “You like babies?”  Aimee nodded affirmatively.  “Well, I’m gonna bring you a real baby, ok?  Would that be ok with you?”  Aimee lit up.  And sure enough, the call came, and that little real baby was in our care.
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It’s been 8 months already.

We didn’t really want to foster, you know.  We wanted permanence for our family.  We didn’t want Toby and Aimee to fall in love with and become attached to their foster siblings and then have them go back home.  We just wanted to adopt.  We wanted to take kids without families and give them a family.  We wanted less orphans.  And then, our hearts were changed, and we decided we thought it was worth the risk of all the heartache of watching the kids go home…

…and then that phone call came.  And they told us they couldn’t promise us anything, but that they thought this could very likely be an adoptive placement.  They were pretty certain Mom and Dad weren’t going to be in the picture.  They were pretty sure there weren’t any other family members that would want and be able to care for them.  It was a foster placement, for sure, but it was what we were hoping for, back before we decided to foster.

Long story a little shorter, we are now officially “matched” with the girls.  This means the adoption process has begun.  The birth parents are legally out of the picture, and there are no other families being considered as a permanent landing spot for them.  The case has been transferred to an adoption caseworker, and it is highly likely that they will be legally adopted into our family in approximately 4 months, hopefully sooner.

Two more little Duebbers.  A mommy, a daddy, and 4 kids currently age 5, 3, 2, and 8 months.  I can’t wait to be allowed to post pictures of my family.  And soon enough, we’ll be allowed to, because our names will be on their birth certificates.

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