Hoop Jumping

Let me preface this post by saying that I wholeheartedly believe that adoptive families should be carefully evaluated to ensure that the precious little ones who are awaiting adoption will be brought into loving, safe, stable homes.

That said, I do think that the amount of scrutiny and hoops to jump through are a bit overkill.  I had a couple of days off of work last week and we started checking things off of the adoption to-do list.  On one of the days we both had physicals (including full panel blood work, STD screening, urine analysis and tuberculosis tests) and had our FBI fingerprinting taken.  We had to go back to the doctor the 2nd day and, after a very long wait with an antsy toddler, got the results of our TB tests (negative).  We have yet to go to our local police station to have our information sent to the adoption agency, have a physical done for Shay and get our cat a vaccination update.  That's without really even touching any of the actual paperwork which is substantial.

Surprisingly, the thing that bothers me more is not really the hoop jumping, but the fact the state, actually the United States government at large, will so often allow unfit biological parents to "raise" their children.  While I believe the vast majority of people do the best job they can at raising their kids and want the very best for them, there are also a lot of deadbeat parents out there with innocent kids who are growing up in deplorable conditions. 

Obviously, Child Protective Services works to remove these children from bad living situations but oftentimes, biological parents are given custody again and the very behaviors that resulted in their child(ren) being taken away in the first place repeat themselves.  Am I saying that a person absolutely cannot change and become a good parent?  No, that's not what I'm saying at all.  However, sadly there are still so many who slip through the cracks.  I believe that these biological parents should have to go through just as much as adoptive parents go through during a home study in order to be deemed fit to raise their kids if there is a violation bad enough to have had the kids removed from their care (or lack thereof) in the first place. 

Pomp & Circumstance

Nothing really new to report on the adoption process.  Our stack of paperwork is still sitting in our living room waiting to be addressed along with some online training sessions.  Life & my work have stopped us from taking the time to really focus on the next steps for adoption for the time being.

With Jeff's successful surgery on the 2nd, he is through the hardest part of his recovery.  It's still going to take at least a couple of months before his knee is projected to be fully healed but his doctor was pleased with the way it is healing thus far.  I keep wanting to call his doctor "Tony Stark" but it is, in fact, Christopher Stark.  And he does faintly resemble Robert Downey, Jr.  Considering that Iron Man is completely fictional, I'd say what Christopher Stark does on a regular basis via operating on real life people's bodies to give them a better quality of life is truly heroic.

In the meantime, we're just waiting for a very important, long-time-coming piece of paper in the mail...Jeff's college diploma!  He wrapped up his final class with Middle Tennessee State University with an "A."  He opted not to walk in a graduation ceremony (or hobble as would have been the case), but the accomplishment is what matters most.  So please join me in wishing Jeff a big "Congrats!"  He's earned it.