This past year, we began talking about
expanding our family. We knew we were becoming ready to be parents someday
soon, but when we thought about starting our family with a biological child,
there was a disconnect. We were ready to be parents, but not ready to have a
baby. That made absolutely no sense to us but we couldn't ignore it.
In April, after much prayer and a trip to the beautiful and amazing country of Haiti,
we decided to make adoption the basis of our family growth and begin the process of adopting a baby from the Caribbean! We could
not have been more excited! ... and also terrified, very terrified. Let's be honest.
We began working with some amazing people in St. Vincent & the Grenadines (SVG) to start the private adoption process. We filled out the application, completed our home study, and began compiling our documents. We were on our way to becoming a family of 3! It was just about this time that we learned about the Universal Accreditation Act (UAA) which was signed into effect to essentially ban private international adoptions as of July 14, 2014. We knew we would most likely not have our adoption completed by then so we decided to end the private adoption route. We were heartbroken and confused.
(p.s. the UAA may be causing some problems for potential adoptive families, but the hope is for it to provide protection and advocacy for orphans and birth parents. We're big fans of adoption ethics so our hope is for this purpose to be accomplished!)
Rewind 7 months...
In April, when we first decided to adopt from the Caribbean, we contacted Creative Adoptions, Inc., an agency that works in SVG, Dominica, and now St. Lucia. I asked if they could give me some information regarding adoption in SVG but I let them know we were going the private route and that we would not be working with them. They told us that they have a waiting list to be able to apply and asked if we wanted to be on it anyway. We said no. Bad move, Schades.
Fast forward 7 months...
In November, following the UAA discovery, we were sad and confused and had no clue what to do next. It was just about that time that Creative Adoptions, Inc. contacted us and said, "Congratulations! You're at the top of our waiting list and you are now able to apply for your adoption!" Say what!? Remember how I so confidently assured them that we did not want to be on their list because we had it all figured out and knew it was going to work perfectly according to our plan?! Well thank goodness for divine intervention! We happily accepted and began round 2 of adoption applications!
We have been accepted to their Eastern Caribbean program and are working on compiling our dossier (a fancy word meaning "more paperwork than you even thought possible") and revising our home study (shout out to our awesome social worker, Jeremey Wolfe, for making a million changes to get it agency-ready!). Once all of this is finished, we will take our official place on the waiting list!
Once we are matched with a child (which shouldn't be longer than 12 months from now, fingers crossed), we will make an immediate short trip down to meet the our child. Then, we'll come back home (without the our baby) for 3-6 months to wait for our court date. Be prepared for Hot-Mess-Maggie during that time. Cookie dough is welcomed. After the court date, the THREE of us will come home!
That's where we're at now. We'll keep you updated as we know more. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. We could not survive this insane process without it!
