May 10th - Correspondence with Social Worker

Our social worker called to touch base today before going on a two week holiday.  It was good to hear from her.  I told her we'd taken a course through the AFABC and she asked me if I would email her the books and courses we've taken so she can add them to our homestudy/file.  Here is the email I sent her:

Hi,

Thanks again for the phone call this afternoon.  It was great that you touched base before your holiday - much appreciated.

As discussed, here is a list of the "research" we've been doing regarding adoption:

 April 25th & May 2nd - AFABC education webinar "Transitioning a child into adoption"

We are also hoping to take the webinars May 23 & 30th and June 6th on Attachement in adoption.

 We have listened to a few radio broadcasts online - http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/familylife-today/listen/

*Family life today with Dennis Rainey - Strategies for parenting adopted children & Adopting Deborah

*Adopted for Life by Russell Moore - 3 part series

We have taken 3 books out of the AFABC Library

*Attaching in Adoption by Deborah Gray (I have read most of it)

*Parenting the hurt Child by Keck and Kupecky (have not started it yet)

*Making sense of Adoption by Lois Melina (Cal has read most of it)

These are due back in the middle of the month - luckily we found most of them to purchase, so we won't have to re-new them.

We were at a value village this week and I purchased 6 books

*Attaching in Adoption by Deborah Gray

*Nurturing Adoptions by Deborah Gray

*Parenting the Hurt Child by Keck and Kupecky

*Parenting your adopted older Child by Brenda McCreight

*Toddler Adoption by Hopkins-Best

*Twenty things adopted kids with their adoptive parents Knew by Sherrie Eldridge

We also have purchased "Adopted for Life" by Russell Moore (We really liked the radio broadcast of the same title)

 I have a phone date set with |Serena (Adoption Coordinator) for May 15th to discuss her adoption story.

My friend Rachelle (one of my references) has an adopted sister through the MCFD, her parents and sister will be up in June and I will be meeting with them to talk about their adoption story too. 

I follow a blog on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HisHandsHisFeetToday?fref=ts) about a family in the states that adopts hard to place children.  While the system is different there it is still a nice resource to hear about the day to day of having adopted kids. 

There is a blog written by a lady in BC that I was following as well, but it unfortunately has not been updated since February. http://waitingtobelong.ca/real-stories/blog

The Adoption Magazine through AFABC is great reference material as well - It really opened my eyes about why openness can be so important.

Cal is also very involved in the research - we discuss the books we are reading and the conversations we have with people who are good resources. 

I don't seem to have many resources on adopting out of birth order - do you have any suggestions? 

If you have any suggestions that you find to be great resources on any aspect of adoption we would love to hear about it.

Have a great holiday - Relax and have a lovely time!

Here is her response:

 

-->Wow, I’m impressed!  You have a lot of great resources. 

Another good site is this one: www.theadoptioncounselor.com

It’s by Brenda McCreight who lives in Nanaimo, BC.  She is an adoptive parent too.  She has a blog on her website if you’re interested. 

I haven’t come across a specific book about adopting out of birth order.  If I do, I’ll let you know. 

 

I found out more about the AEP’s that start up again in September.  Apparently, there is a new way folks will register.  They will register themselves by going onto a link on the AFABC website.  This is all brand new and I’m not sure when the link will come up on the website but once I hear more, I’ll let you know.  The registration is also first come, first serve and there is 2 cohorts of AEP’s in September, October, November, and December so definitely lots of availability.

 

Have a good weekend!

And here is my response:

 

Thank you for the webpage - Brenda is the author of the book I'm currently reading, so I'll definitely be checking it out.  I am LOVING the AFABC, so I'm glad to hear that the registration for AEP will be through their site.  I hope you know that I really appreciate the work you do.  I know case loads, and the very nature of the work you do, can be very difficult.  If there is anything I can do to help with our end of the process, let me know.  And I will try to reign in my over-zealousness.  I really am just excited about this journey we're on.   I also started my own blog to try to keep myself organized and document the process, so that I may be a resource for someone else some day.  It's very rambling, but gives me an outlet for my enthusiasm :)