An Update...Kind Of

While I was screaning my calls this morning in order to thoroughly enjoy play time with the kiddos, our social worker called. We (the kids and I) had just finished a fantastic song/dance routine to the VBS CD and were all taking a rest for a moment, which is why I could hear the phone ring. I let it go, but after I heard our social worker talking on the answering maching I picked up to find out we have an update.

Our paperwork was submitted to the ICBF (Instituto Colombiano Bienestar Familiar: translated Colombian Institute of Family Welfare) on May 19th which is Nic's birthday. After it is reviewed they either approve our family for the adoption of a sibling group or they ask further clarifying questions and then approve us at a later time. It is very common for families to be asked redundant clarifying questions that are already well explained in their dossier. I consider it a safety measure taken by the ICBF to ensure families are making thorough, well thought out decisions regarding adoption. You can't fault an agency whose obligation is to care for the best interests of the children.

Today we got our clarifiying questions asked by ICBF. They are wanting "amplification" regarding what our family has done to prepare for the adoption of a sibling group. Since our social worker and psychiatrist have already both clearly communicated this in our homestudy and psych eval, it is kind of tricky how to re-word and elaborate on everything to ICBF's satisfaction. That is what we will be working on tonight since the Windows part of our computer has crashed this afternoon. (Hmmm...that MAC is looking better all the time!)

Some of you reading this who are new to following our journey might be wondering why in the world we have a psychiatrist and a psych eval. In order to adopt from Colombia one of the requirements is that adoptive families must complete a psych eval, including the 500+ question MMPI test. Nic and I went in for a 2+ hour interview with a psychiatrist and took the test, answering yes/no questions that included: "Would you enjoy a job as a librarian? Do you enjoy hurting animals? Do you feel that people are out to get you? Was your father a good man? Would you enjoy a job as a mechanic?" It is interesting to note that we have taken this test three times in the past three years and have passed all three times. Hooray for us! This is especially amazing considering that the adoption process in and of itself can make a person crazy! The psych eval is another redundant step in the process because the written evaluation by the psychiatrist must agree completely with the social workers findings in the homestudy. So, ICBF is asking what we've done to prepare for our adoption when both of these documents, as well as documents we have filled out and letters we have written to ICBF all contain this information. But if writing out an "amplification" to this question is all that is necessary in order to adopt these precious children it is an easy sacrifice to make and I'll gladly "amplify" for them.

The best part of this update is that we heard from ICBF at all! Any update is better than no update. The projected time frame for a referral was 6 weeks to 6 months from the May 19th submission of our dossier. Our calendar is filled with pencil only right now.

Since I know that everyone loves pictures, I'll leave you with a few pictures of our current brood.