Glad my thread's not dead. Thanks for the replies.
Ironically, we did the first part of our homestudy yesterday. Simple enough.
We've tried having kids of our own and now we're old enough that we'd need to beat some serious odds working against us. And that's ok.
We're not trying to have the child we never had. We're looking to help a child or two overcome and cope with their trauma so they will one day be the kind of adult that we'd like to spend time with.
If I earn the title "Dad" during that process, great! If not, I'll still know that we gave our all towards helping a child.
Be patient.
We were in the same boat as you three years ago. We did enough fostering with dogs and finding them homes, personally I figured not much different with children (I think a book could be written on the similarities).
Both my wife and I were in our late 30's when we got married, and after 4 years we decided to get involved. I remember how the home study was oh so much fun
I won't lie, it was intrusive, long enduring hours of travel for classes, certifications, and it always seemed that just when you had all your ducks lined up, they threw something at us that was needed that they forgot to tell us about.
We started off as "fostering with the possibility to adopt".
My wife volunteers as a guardian ad litem, so that made fostering difficult for us due to a perceived conflict of interest.
Then one day, a call out of the blue, and we had our son. I most proud of the fact how far he has come in school. His mother gets all the credit with his homework after school, and reading together as a family is the SOP at night before bed.
All the aggravation was well worth it (your patience may not only be tested by a child, but the organization you're dealing with).
We're looking at doing it again now that we have had our son and feel comfortable making another commitment.
IMO different organizations/agencies are vastly different as far as follow up and how they keep you in the loop, which could affect your patience.
Boy, I've used the term "patience" a lot per this post LOL
Sometimes I find it oh so ironic what people have to go through per their state requirements to take care of a child that in hopes to adopt that child, yet some can have unwanted children during a drunken night.
