The Story of How We Became Six (Part Four)

Here is where the real journey began.

My husband called the phone number on the commercial and signed us up for an orientation meeting. Following the orientation, we began taking classes in order to get certified as foster parents with the intent of adopting.

For several weeks, we attended classes that educated us about foster care and adoption of children who are taken away from their birth families. It was very informative yet very disturbing. For example, during one evening class, we did role playing of what kids in foster care go through. One skit, performed by our fellow classmates, reenacted a scene of a 5 year old child being removed from her parent's home by a CPS social worker and a police officer.

Throughout the training, we learned a lot about both parents who had adopted drug babies as well as children who had been adopted. One guest speaker was an adoptive mother who had taken in a drug baby. She talked about the long term issues she has had to deal with as a result of the drug exposure. Sleepless nights, learning disabilities, and other such issues.

By the end of the training, we had agreed that we only wanted to take in an infant, preferably a newborn from the hospital. As selfish as it may sound, we both agreed that we wanted to start fresh with our child. We wanted to be the only parents he or she would know. The truth is, almost every child that is placed in long term foster care is there as the result of some kind of abuse. The less exposure to the abuse, the better chances for our child. And, we also had to take into account the fact that we had other family members that would be affected by whomever we welcomed into our home. Older children can tend to come with challenges that we did not want to expose our young nieces (who lived downstairs from us at the time) and nephews to.

Training began in September and ended in early December. In addition to the weekly training, we also had to undergo background checks, medical clearances, and a home study. In January, we completed the final phase of certification. We were licensed to take in up to 2 children.

And then, we waited, and waited, and waited, for months to get a call. Nothing. Friends we had made in our class started getting kids, but not us. First was Paul and Bernie. Then Sam and Christy. Everyone seemed to be getting their babies but us. I began to forget about it. There was nothing more we could do but go about our normal lives and hope that there would be a call, someday.