The Start
Emerald has always wanted to adopt a child. The plan was to have one or two biological children and adopt anymore than that; maybe one or two more. We began trying to conceive in 2017 and eventually went through fertility treatments and IUI attempts. We were told that our final option to get pregnant would be IVF. However, we had already prayed and discussed this option many times. We both felt it wasn't the right path for us. We felt similarly with surrogacy options. Thus, our journey into adoption started a little earlier than planned.
The Home Study
We spent months researching agencies, finances, and laws. Wow, we found a ton of information. It was overwhelming at first haha. We then compared the differences in private vs agency adoptions. Once we decided to go the private route, we contacted Utah Adoption Specialists and started our home study with a caseworker.
We filed all the paperwork and sent over all their requested medical and financial paperwork. All the while, we felt like our lives were being heavily invaded. I could relate it to the feeling that you might get while in a dark interrogation room with the only light shining in your face while people question your every motive. (Yes, we are aware that is just a media thing but the analogy still works.)
One of the best feelings we've had during this process so far was receiving our official home study report. We went out to a restaurant and celebrated, it was that good. While it was invasive, we actually came to appreciate the whole process because we know every part of the process is meant to protect our future son or daughter.
The Classes
We attended our adoption training classes recently, in November of 2022, and we learned so much! While we had done tons of research on things like finances and our options as to private or agency adoptions, we still had so many questions. We took so many notes, it is going to take some time to get through them all. Especially, because Ryan's handwriting is not the best haha. It's a good thing Emerald has learned to read messy handwriting. We might share more in-depth what we learned in our classes in the future but for now, here are a few of the many things that we learned:
Having an open adoption is not nearly as scary or difficult as we feared it would be. Thank you to all of the panelists for easing our concerns.
Ways to form healthy relationships between the children, us, and the birth families.
How to manage insurance and the hospital during delivery.
EVERYTHING comes down to communication.
We need to be significantly more active online. Haha, introvert problems.
The Plan
The plan right now is to find our match. There is not much else to do right now. We will for sure try to be more active online. From there, everything will be played by ear based on our communication with any expectant parent(s). We know that we will love everyone involved and we want nothing but happiness for everyone we know.
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