A. & I are currently working through our second mound of adoption paperwork. Upon first opening up the 1.5" thick 8.5" x 11" manila (ironically) envelope, I was immediately overwhelmed. I'd been anticipating it in the mail since we'd been notified that PSB received our initial face sheet application and fee. Not that I didn't know what to expect. So many forms, multi-paged forms! Signing off on the fact that we don't believe in corporal punishment at all. Fingerprints, certified copies, notaries . . . oh my!Including a 6-10 page autobiography (that's A. & I each) on our childhoods and parents, education, careers, why we want to become parents, what our philosophies are on parenting and discipline . . . Personal and neighbor references . . . Employer and church ones too. Our primary childcare plan, our alternative childcare plans. And did I mention the 8" x 10" and 5" x 7" photos of us as adoptive parents, the rooms in our home, views of our home from the outside and all around the front and back? Plus photos of our extended family members. All to present our dossier in the best light possible, so that we can be matched with our forever child.
I find myself on occasion confronting the bittersweet (mostly sweet) excitement of our adoption journey and the fact that biological parents don't need a license to parent and certainly don't have to jump through such hoops. They should need a license, and they should have to jump through hoops.
