At our last class, we were given another questionnaire to complete and forward to the intake coordinator. This one is not about the children we are interested in but about us, our relationship, our childhood and our personalities. Feeling energized following class, we completed the 10 page questionnaire as soon as we got home.
I get nervous about the wording of some questionnaires. I took one once where the questions were about alcohol use, worded in the double negative and none of the options applied to me. I think I answered them with "I do not share my alcohol abuse with my family" because I do not consume alcohol so there is no abuse hence nothing to share with my family. The results were interpreted as I am in denial about my alcohol abuse. So, when I come to questions about my childhood and I tick off one of the choices as "sad", I feel like I have to add to it that my grandfather with whom I was very close died and I was very sad about it for a long time. But there is no option for additional comments so I fret somewhat that they will think I was depressed as a child or something - which is far from the truth but then to not tick it off and say everything was all sunshine and lollipops they might think I was delusional because I remember that some of the social workers said that they were always weary of applicants whose lives seem perfect. Same thing with the questions about what is the subject of the major disagreements between my husband and myself. We don't have any major disagreements so what the hell am I supposed to say? We have disagreements but not major ones so how do you respond to this? Who knew multiple choice would be so stressful... in the end I come to the conclusion that I need to rethink the final exams I give my students.
Because we are scheduled to leave the province in three days, I sent them over to the intake coordinator the next day. I am hopeful we will hear back about the mandatory post-AEP appointment by the time we return in 10 days. I am FLOORED when I receive an email response in less than five minutes asking us to come in the next day. Having dutifully checked our adoption process schedule flow chart, I knew that generally the follow up appointments are two to three weeks following the end of classes. Here we are within two days.
During the meeting, we review our initial questionnaire regarding the children we are "interested" in having join our family to see if anything has changed. It is checklist of various ethnicities, challenges, disabilities, illnesses, conditions, exposures, blah blah blah which we would be willing to consider. I joke that it is like an online dating application or shopping and that perhaps one day there will be an "add to basket" option. As soon as it comes out of my mouth, I panic a little and immediately remember that, during class, one of the social workers remarked that the adoption team had already begun discussing the prospective adoptive parents during meetings... and my sense of humour is not always "appreciated" and worry that this comment will be added to - what my overactive imagination perceives to be - section in my file marked "inappropriate comments: evidence of insensitivity." I mean, it is the government and that in and of itself is intimidating... not helpful to someone who uses humour to mask nervousness.
All in all, I think the interview went well. I certainly did not see her write "NO" at the top of our file - and I was watching for it - before we left and she DID say that they were interested in moving forward with us as soon as possible knowing that my teaching schedule makes it easier to complete the home study over the summer. She may or may not have said "top of the list" when speaking about scheduling the home study.
Our bouquet of balloons carried us back to our car...
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