Adoption

Growing up, I always said I wanted to adopt a child, but I never thought it would be one of my two options to have a family. When my husband and I were faced with infertility, we thought long and hard about the pros and cons of adoption and IVF. We came to the decision to try adoption because there are so many children in this world who need a loving family. Unfortunately, we were not prepared for the cost of an adoption. A private adoption in your own country costs anywhere from $20,000+ while a private international adoption costs anywhere from $30,000. I would never put a price on having a family but we don't have that kind of money growing on a tree in our yard. Our only other option would be a public adoption through Children's Aid. My first thoughts were "I don't want to do that...I don't want the birth family constantly involved in our lives when we are trying to make our own family." But that is not the case at all. There is a BIG difference between a public adoption and an open adoption. A public adoption simply means you are adopting through your local Children's Aid.

So in April 2011, we began our process of a public adoption. Children's Aid came out to our house and met with us. We were given a HUGE package to complete and police checks were done. We rushed to get everything done so we could start the PRIDE training in the fall since they don't run the training during the summer. In September we started our training and our home studies also begun. It's hard to let a total stranger into your home and have them critique it and have them tell you everything that needs to be changed (like mounting bookshelves to the wall and looking up knife blocks). It was also hard having to go through all of the interviews. My husband and I were interviewed together, we were interviewed separately. We were asked intimate details about our lives and our families' lives. Finally, in December of 2011, we had been approved for adoption!!

And then came the waiting game....