What led us to DSS Adoption
I guess I will start at the beginning. I plan to be honest and emotional so get ready. My husband and I got married later in life. I was 28 and he was 35. We knew within a year or two we wanted to start a family. I was diagnosed Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome which can make it very difficult to have children. My husband also was diagnosed with a medical condition that affected fertility. This was a double whamie for us. We were told by doctors that we could try fertility, but we had more chance of being hit by lightining. (Yes, they actually said that) We were heartbroken over the news. At a loss of what to do, we prayed that God would give us a sign of which way to go. We prayed for one sign, God gave us a million. The first sign occurred in July of that year. We made a faithful trip to visit with some friends over the 4th of July holiday.
My friend was a caseworker in a private group home setting for children for disabilities and who had suffered abuse and neglect. One night during our stay, she and I took her dog for a walk around the neighborhood. I was relating all our difficulties and she asked if we had ever considered adoption. We had talked about it in passing. However,we knew other friends and family that had adopted and spent tens of thousands dollars and we could not afford that. That is when she suggested we look into the Foster Care to Adopt Program with DSS.
I had not heard of this program before and I was not so sure about it. I said I would look into it and went on talking about something else. I talked to my husband about it on the ride home, but never seriously. Then we rented and watched the movie "The Blind Side" and everything changed. I am not saying the movie made us decide to make a life changing decision, but it pulled at our heart strings. I believe God used the movie to unlock a door in our hearts that we were not ready to open yet.
On mundane Saturday in August, we went to get our dogs food from PetSmart. There were pet adoptions going on from local rescue groups. We petted the various dogs and cats and commented on how we wished we could take them all home. We checked out and left. It seemed on every street corner on our ride home there we signs for various Adoption Groups. Some of them just said "Adoptions Today". I made an off-hand comment on how many signs there were about Adoptions. My husband agreed that he had not seen that many out before and we changed the subject. I guess God said they are not seeing my other "signs" so let me give them a few literal ones.
My friend was a caseworker in a private group home setting for children for disabilities and who had suffered abuse and neglect. One night during our stay, she and I took her dog for a walk around the neighborhood. I was relating all our difficulties and she asked if we had ever considered adoption. We had talked about it in passing. However,we knew other friends and family that had adopted and spent tens of thousands dollars and we could not afford that. That is when she suggested we look into the Foster Care to Adopt Program with DSS.
I had not heard of this program before and I was not so sure about it. I said I would look into it and went on talking about something else. I talked to my husband about it on the ride home, but never seriously. Then we rented and watched the movie "The Blind Side" and everything changed. I am not saying the movie made us decide to make a life changing decision, but it pulled at our heart strings. I believe God used the movie to unlock a door in our hearts that we were not ready to open yet.
On mundane Saturday in August, we went to get our dogs food from PetSmart. There were pet adoptions going on from local rescue groups. We petted the various dogs and cats and commented on how we wished we could take them all home. We checked out and left. It seemed on every street corner on our ride home there we signs for various Adoption Groups. Some of them just said "Adoptions Today". I made an off-hand comment on how many signs there were about Adoptions. My husband agreed that he had not seen that many out before and we changed the subject. I guess God said they are not seeing my other "signs" so let me give them a few literal ones.
A couple of days later, we recieved a magazine that highlights things to do, places to eat and special interests stories in and around the lake we live near. I had a few minutes so I took a look. I saw an article on a local family that had adopted through the DSS system. I saw the pictures of the family and thought how well they looked. I showed my husband and said I think God has shown us enough signs. Let's call and check into it. What do we have to lose? I called the next day. They were doing an orientation meeting the next week. The supervisor said she usually couldn't work people in because of space limitations, but they had two seats left for this orientation. If the space had not been available, we would have had to wait another 4-6 months for another one to roll around. This was just the beginning of a long road that is not nearly over for us. However, now that we have two beautiful children in our home, we know it was worth it. I will start my next blog on the trials and requirements of the approval process through DSS. Hold onto your hats. It has been a wild ride. Thank you for reading this post!
Allie. E.
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