Nothing yet

I called and left a message for the licensing worker yesterday (she was out of the office) just to touch base with her and let her know that we have the First Aid cards she requested as well as the vaccination records that are required for our zoo of pets (LOL). I am waiting to hear back from her to see if she wants me to mail the stuff to her or hold on to it until the home inspection. Nothing new yet...

First Aid

We took our last and final class for preparation of becoming licensed yesterday. We finished our First Aid Training. The class was done through the American Red Cross and was 4 hours long. We did learn a lot. We need to make copies of our certified cards and send them to the licensing worker.

We are still waiting to hear from her regarding the approval to schedule our home inspection.

I hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will post more as I have more news! Thank you all so much for your care and interest in our adoption journey! I hope that all your wishes come true in 2009! I am confident that ours will!

A home for the holidays

There is a special coming up on 12/23/08 on CBS about Foster Adoption. Here is the info:

A Home for the Holidays, THE 10TH ANNUAL A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS WITH FAITH HILL, a new entertainment special to be broadcast Tuesday, Dec. 23 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, will include moving performances by Faith Hill, Melissa Etheridge, Tim McGraw Gavin Rossdale and Jamie Foxx, among others. Kristin Chenoweth, Patricia Heaton, Rene Russo, Martin Short are among the celebrities presenting inspirational stories about adoption.

Following the success of the past nine annual shows, the 10th anniversary special continues to tell touching stories about foster care adoption to raise awareness of this important social issue. The inspirational stories of these American families are enhanced by performances from some of today's most popular artists.

The musical performances frame several story segments which are presented by celebrities who either have their own adoption experiences or are involved with children's issues. The stories highlight many exceptional American children and families involved in this rewarding process.

Will you do me a favor? If you watch this (which I do HIGHLY recomend) please stop by and comment.. tell me what you think, what (if anything) you have learned from it and what your opinions are. I am looking forward to the comments.

Not good news for anyone..

Orange County officials on Wednesday unveiled a series of steep cuts at the Social Services Agency that are aimed at quickly trimming $30 million in salary and services out of this fiscal year's budget.
Budget negotiators informed labor leaders that all 4,218 workers at the Social Services Agency will each be required to take up to 80 hours of unpaid leave over the next six months. In addition, 210 jobs must be cut, as well as 193 vacant positions.
County officials are concerned that the unions will seek a court injunction to stop the mandatory furloughs. But county managers have warned that if labor fights that option, then 625 jobs will be eliminated by Feb. 1.
"It's not a threat, it's a reality," county CEO Tom Mauk said. He said the job cuts have to be implemented quickly because of a decline in state revenues that fund such programs.
According to budget managers, the job cuts should save about $10 million from the current budget. An additional $20 million in service reductions are being considered within the Social Services Agency.
"Ice cold" is how Nick Berardino, head of the Orange County Employees Association – the county's largest union - described the cuts and how they are being handled. "It's heartbreaking," he said, noting that tears were flowing at the union offices. "I can't sleep at night."
Berardino said he plans to press county managers and elected supervisors to feel as much pain as the rank and file.
"There needs to be total oversight and we need to look at every remodel, every new piece of furniture, every trip and meal that has been paid for the last 18 months," he said.
Berardino said he's pressing to have executive management car allowances eliminated, along with calling on all department heads, managers and elected officials to pay for their own pensions. He also wants 401-k plans that are offered to elected officials and managers to be eliminated and is calling on managers to forgo a 5 percent raise planned for early next year.
Mauk said the union will likely find a friendly ear on those suggestions.
"Managers need to step up and show leadership by immediately forgoing any raises at all. And I'm in the process of talking to them right now," Mauk said.
But even implementing all those changes won't make a dent in the shortages expected.
"If you took all of those, do you think they would total $86 million?" Mauk said.
The answer: Not even close.
Mauk is referring to an expected $86 million dip in local revenue during the next fiscal year.
He added that the pain from the state shortfall won't be short-lived. Within the next week, expect to hear plans for similar cuts at the Health Care Agency and Probation.
"The state's budget is in a freefall," said Supervisor Chris Norby. "And these positions are largely funded through the state. If the state doesn't give us the money, it isn't there."
Responding to labor's concerns about the cuts, Norby added, "denial is not a strategy."
Supervisor's Chairman John Moorlach also noted that the cuts currently being seen at the county are simply a reflection of what's happening to the rest of the community and nation.
"The private sector has already made tons of adjustments because of revenue," he said. "Now it's our turn."

I got an e-mail the other day from the lady at Bridge Builders who scheduled all the free, recommended but voluntary classes that they offer to foster to adopt (and adoptive) parents. She said that they will no longer be offering these classes because the funding isn't there to pay for them. My DH and I have taken a couple of these classes and they are (were) a great recourse. It's a shame. From my understanding Social Services is doing everything they can NOT to remove children from their homes, because there is no money to support them once they are in care. This means there are less children waiting for placements, but not because there is less neglect and abuse, it's because they are not removing them from those situations.

An Update

Danny and I went to our "last" interview with the licensing worker this evening. The interview covered nothing new and nothing of true importance in my opinion, but maybe that is just me feeling like a broken record. We covered the same material, answered the same questions and talked about the same issues that we have in ALL of the other interviews. BUT if this is what it takes, if it takes for us to repeat ourselves til' we are blue in the face (we are close) then we of course will do it.

The interview lasted about an hour and we talked more about our personal "habits", our financials, our interest in children, what age/sex and amount of children we want. She said this is information that we would normally go over when she comes out to do our home inspection, but we took care of it now, so it will be one less thing we need to cover when she comes out (I won't hold my breath about that).

So you are probably wondering what happens now, what the meeting today meant and what happens next... right? Me toooooo! hahha, teasing. She said that she is going to take all the paper work she has gathered, all the questions/answers that we covered today and write up a report and submit it to her manager. Her manager will review it (ask more questions if she has any) then give her approval, THEN it has to go up one more level, to HER manager who will do all the same things, and then eventually give her approval (fingers crossed of course that everyone approves it). Once we have the final approval, she (the licensing worker) will give us a call to schedule the home inspection. She will of course tell us what she wants changed in our home at that time. We will have time to "fix" whatever issues there are in our home and she will schedule the next visit to inspect. Once everything passes, she will submit everything to the County/State (I don't really know which one) to issue our license.

Then we are officially on the "waiting list" for a match.

She did tell us that because we are in the middle of all the holidays and she does not know what everyones vacations schedules look like, it could take up to a month to hear from her. She said, she will be there working most of the time she is "only taking one week off" but doesn't know how much time her manager, and her managers manager will be taking.. so she doesn't know how quickly they will get to our file. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. so we wait.

PROGRESS!!

OK, so I talked to the licensing worker today and she said that not only does she have all the paper work that she needs but we scheduled our last interview with her for December 10th. This interview will be with both of us (Danny and I) and she will be asking questions that her superior will want answered. Then she will write up the report and turn it into her superior for approval. Once the approval is issued (however long it takes the superior to review the file) then she will schedule our home inspection FINALLY. Once the home inspection is complete, they will submit our file to the state to issue our license.. then we are officially on the waiting list to be matched with our forever child(ren).

I don't know if you can sense my excitement via this post, but let me just tell you.... I am so excited. I finally feel like Something positive is happening and we are going to be licensed soon!

I will tell you about the interview once it happens.

We adopted...

In years past we have adopted soldiers and sent packages to Iraq. This year, we have adopted a couple of soldiers in Afghanistan. One gentleman that we adopted is in great need. His family has hit a hardship and can not afford to send him the items he needs to get by. Such as Socks, Boxers, hygiene items, and of course hot chocolate. We also adopted a female soldier, who I have started getting to know quite well. She is also in Afghanistan and is a single mother of 2 boys. We have been exchanging e-mails and I have to say I commend her for all her hard work and everything she is doing for our country, all the while, missing all this quality time with her children. We sent both soldiers some necessities, and then some holiday items too. A few people in our community have stepped up to help as well, and they have donated some stockings stuffed with goodies, some food items, hygiene items and then we threw in some holiday decorations too. The most exciting thing we sent, was little homemade Christmas cards from an elementary school classroom. I hope they enjoy them!

We have also adopted local families from our community center in the past and this year, we have adopted a single mother of a 3 year old little girl. She is a victim of Domestic Violence and is trying to make it on her own. Her daughter is in need of clothes and toys and I am so excited to help her out. To help her with a fresh start and a stepping stone at a new life, without violence! I am excited to shop for dolls, and little girl clothes. It just makes me even more anxious to buy our own children Christmas gifts. Our time will come!

This is a tough year for everyone, and we are no exception.. but I can not imagine going a year without giving.

Great News

The licensing worker called yesterday. I missed her call and will call her back today... BUT in the message she left, she said that she has received ALL the paper work that she needs and doesn't need anything else from us! Can you believe that? I know I sure can't! LOL. I totally understand why "they" say Adoption is like a Paper Pregnancy... there is soooooo much paper work. Any way, she mentioned that she wants to schedule an interview with Danny and I and it will take about an hour. I am going to call her today to set that up. I am so thrilled right now. I was starting to feel like this is Never going to happen, and finally a glimpse of hope. Yipeeeee.