The "Dreaded" Social Worker Visit

Any adoptive parent probably was nervous about the Social Worker visit during the adoption process. I know I was!

Taher and I had about three weeks between when we scheduled the appointment and the day of the appointment. That gave me three weeks to research the heck out of what to expect, to google different stories from other adoptive parents, and to WORRY. I don't know why I worry so much, I was just very aware that the Social Worker could potentially stand in the way of Taher and I's dream of adoption. SHE could be the one who deemed us not qualified. That SCARED me!

Our appointment was on a Tuesday, so the previous weekend Taher and I cleaned and organized the house. Being just the two of us, our house never really gets that messy, but we were sure to give it a good cleaning anyway.

Let's just say Tuesday was a LONG day. I tried to be productive at work. To concentrate, to be a good employee, but my mind was obviously elsewhere. Taher and I called each other a few times throughout the day and did the countdown. She would be at our house at 4:30pm. What time is it now? Only 9am? CRAP.

My workday finally ended, and I rushed home. Taher was already there, and we straightened everything up. I remade the beds, opened the windows to get a nice breeze, instructed me cat to behave, then worried about the social worker being allergic my cat. (She wasn't)

And at promptly 4:30. . . We received a knock at the door. My heart rate immediately accelerated, and I had to do everything in my power not to giggle. Yes, that was my initial reaction. To giggle.

As expected, our social worker was amazing. We all sat in our living room, and MP told us a bit about herself and how she came to work at that agency. She then asked us to tell us about ourselves. Taher went first and gave her his brief bio. Then I went next. Then she asked us both why we wanted to adopt. The words came flowing out. It's not hard for us to talk about why we want to adopt.

After about 15 minutes, she then asked us for a tour of our house. Ahh. . . Taher, bless his heart. He gave the tour, and I followed. Taher didn't just point out to MP, here's are kitchen, here's our office, etc. It was more like, "Here's our kitchen. Leah and I redid a lot of it. We laid this tile all by ourselves and even stained the cupboards." "Oh, and here's the office. We painted, and I even hung this light." "Here's our bathroom, it's pretty dated." Oh, Taher. I seriously think he's the cutest. ;-)

After the five minute tour of our home, we then sat back in the living room, and MP went over the next step. About 10 questions that we had to answer about ourselves, our finances, our relationship, our neighborhood, Our EVERYTHING.

That was it! At about 5:15, we were shaking MP's hand, and she was on her way.

Not so bad at all. I realized I worried about nothing. (I worry about nothing a lot) MP was there to get to know us. She wasn't there to disqualify us. She is here to work with us. . . Not against us. She wasn't at our house with her white gloves checking for dust. She was there to make sure our house was a safe environment for a child.

After MP left, Taher and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. We then hugged each other, and Taher said to me with a smile. . . "We're going to be parents."

My response?

InshaAllah
:-D