If It's Not One Thing

Seeing the name of your adoption attorney show up on the caller id sends 1,000 thoughts through your brain in a flash So it was with a racing heart that I grabbed the phone yesterday afternoon Turns out it was just a quick call because they were updating their files to see if we had a current homestudy still, since that is a prerequsite for being eligible for last minute placements (parents who decide on adoption at the hospital after the birth) When we last updated our study, our state had just changed their law to make home studies good for 36 months This was a super cool thing, in our mind, because it cuts down on the amount of money that you have to throw out year after year after year

So I assured the attorney that yes, our homestudy was still valid, then shot off a quick email to our social worker to verify that I was remembering that correctly When I got a reply that yes, I was correct, I shot off a quick email to our attorney to that effect and then spent the evening trying to remind myself that they were just updating their files and there was no hidden meaning to it

And then there was today - when I get an email from the attorney letting us know that for their state, the homestudy has to be current within 12 months

Le sigh

So now we're looking at having to update our perfectly good homestudy - to the tune of nearly $600 - because of state differences. And ok, sure, it's probably worth doing, but it's so frustrating because it's not like spending that money means anything other than that we could get a short notice placement, it wouldn't really be necessary for a normal length placement (we'd have plenty of time to update the thing with expedited fees in that time frame) Then you couple that with the fact that in the past 2 years of them having our paperwork, they've had exactly one possible match for us (that obviously didn't pan out)  - so really, is this even worth it? Or should we, in addition to updating the study, be looking for a different place to work with?

And then in the back of my mind, I start to wonder if we ought to explore international adoption again - though I'd want to do a South American country at this point and I haven't been keeping up with how those adoptions are going at all - I guess I should do a little research

It's just so frustrating, especially with the emotional rollercoaster of the last 24 hours thinking that they had someone in mind for us going to being, essentially, totally ineligible at this point in time even if they did