Our first meeting with the social worker went well. To avoid using real names, I will call her Suzie. Suzie's a woman in her early '60s with a soft voice and powdery white hair. She seems a little distracted, or disractable but competant, which seems perfectly in-step with my state of my mind most days.
Suzie asked a few basic questions about why we wanted to adopt children from the Waiting Children's List. I had to stifle my first sarcastic comment, which would have been: "for the free kids and free labor." Sarcasm probably wouldn't be appreciated. Mid-way through we completed the marriage inventory.
For those of you married in the Catholic church, you may have taken one of these tests. It is basically supposed to show any significant differences in opinion between spouses or show if there are any abuse issues. We each take the same quiz, in separate rooms. Hopefully we passed, although, I'm not too concerned. There was one question I am sure Mike and I will tease eachother with for a while: "I am afraid to be affectionate because my spouse will make me have sexual relations."
At the beginning of the session, Suzie mentioned that we a were perfect couple on paper, so the inventory and home study that would follow were just to ensure we were just as good in real life. The scrutiny makes sense since it is in place to protect the children yet I can't help but feel slightly resentful of the irony present in each step of this adoption process. Mike and I could have given birth to our own children and not had our parental integrity questioned once--even if it should have been.
We will meet Suzie again on January 11th to review the results of the inventory, so keep your fingers crossed. Hopefully, we'll prove to be as good in real life as in our application.
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