Packet II is here!

Holy Toledo, Batman!  This is a LOT of information.  Imagine signing up for just a college course and receiving all of your materials in the mail at once, all homework assignments, papers, etc.  That's what just landed in my lap.  Two months worth of paperwork aside from our Home Study....and our Home Study packet will be just as big.  Hi, glad I took the semester off of school.  I would be a total basket case right now. (and breathe.)

I haven't had enough time to absorb everything yet, but here is a quick overview of what we are looking at.

-A flowchart of the adoption process (THANK YOU for the checklist!  I may stay sane afterall)
-Child Placement Agreement and Affidavit (our contract with Love Basket)
-Notice of Privacy Practices (how our personal information is shared and for what reasons)
-Notice of Privacy Practices Acknowledgement Sheet (says we read the privacy practices and approve)
-Authorization form for the agency to obtain background, health, financial and other information and to share this information with appropriate third parties
-An eight page document consisting of recommended reading for us, our families, and our adopted child (after placement).  This reading is not required like the two books I mentioned yesterday.

That's half of packet two and each (-) above is equivalent to approximately seven pages stapled together as "sub-packets"

Here's the other half-
-A letter of congratulations on our approval of Packet I (Hey! Something I don't have to fill out, sign, and have notorized!  Yay!)
-Application to process packet II (this looks a lot like a part-time job application)
-A list of instructions for completing Packet II 
-A lab release form for each of us, concerning a full blood panel (more details later)
-Medical History and Physician Report forms for each of us (for our physicals)
-Employee Reference sheet for each of our employers (details later)
-Forms to send our personal references that will be forwarded on to our agency
-Pastoral Reference form
-Worksheet regarding our desired contact with our Birth Parents for before placement as well as post-placement
-A list of Prerequisites for Adoption through Love Basket (details later) as well as a log of each item and a place for signatures
-A list of questions for us to discuss regarding a trans-racial adoption (Yay!  Another form we don't have to sign, notarize and return.  Six pages out of 987...I'll take it.)

That's the second half of Packet II.  Again, each (-) is an average of seven pages stapled together as "sub-packets".  Most of the above documents have to be signed and notarized (including our reference sheets) and then mailed back to the agency.

My understanding is that our Home Study Packet will be about this much information and very little is overlapping.

The fee for processing Packet II is $595.  We have an additional "review fee" of $425 which covers cross communication between Love Basket and our local agency regarding our Home Study.  

As I said yesterday, once fees are confirmed and paid, they will be added to the expense list.  

I will provide more details of these forms as we fill them out.  Anyone who has ever said or heard that the adoption process is a roller coaster ride was being polite.  I'm already sick to my stomach looking at this mountain and am ready to buy stock in Pepto.  (Seriously, does this count as sympathy "morning" sickness?)  Comment with the name of your favorite roller coaster ride and we'll have a drawing for Baby's name! (okay, just kidding on the naming Baby after a roller coaster thing....)

Much more to come!  I have a feeling that blogging twice a week just won't cover it anymore.  Stay Tuned! :D

#Overwhelmed #StillExcited