Editor’s Note: Blake Adam and Matthew Coelho are chronicling their adoption journey for Gays With Kids.
Pop the champagne! We are officially Home Study approved!
Almost exactly a year after we made the decision to start the adoption process, we got word from our social worker that our Home Study has been approved. This means our case file that was submitted to the local court was qualified by the judge, and we are deemed as acceptable to adopt a baby or babies!
This comes as such a relief, after months of hiccups (see our previous blog for the deets!) and my patience wearing out, but also comes as an exciting push into the next phase of the process… one which will undoubtedly test my patience again. But, boy, are we excited!
Once a couple or person who is adopting has been approved by the court, that means that they can legally begin “marketing” themselves to birth mothers in the hopes of being matched.
Marketing sounds like such an impersonal term, but that truly is what we will be doing… showcasing ourselves, our home, our family, and our love in a way that will hopefully attract someone to pick us!
We have opted to pursue independent domestic infant adoption for the time being. This means that we will be working independent of an agency to connect with a birth mother. The main reason for this is simple: we hope to save money. While agencies are extremely helpful in connecting prospective parents and birth mothers, they are also expensive.
We also hope that we can use our marketing and social media skills (Matt does marketing professionally, after all!) to connect with a birth mom on our own. Cross your fingers for us!
Over the next who-knows-how-long, we will be regularly posting our story and our adoption website in order to cast a wide net and spread our story far and wide. Please feel free to share, as the more people who see our faces and know that we are hopeful to adopt, the more likely that a birth mom will be one of them!
Of course, we will not be going it alone, as we have an incredible adoption attorney in our corner along with the support of our family, friends, and the GWK community.
This next part of the adoption journey will be the emotional rollercoaster we’ve been warned about, but we are so thrilled to be moving forward in our dream to become parents and we are so grateful to be receiving such love and support from everyone along the way!
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