Home Study Tomorrow

Our social worker, Anne, is coming tomorrow for our home study. It's our first meeting with her, she will do our home interview and our individual interviews. I'm a little nervous, I admit it, even though I know it's going to be great.

I really like Anne. I called about 12 different agencies and independent social workers when I started looking for someone. Out of those 11 or 12 I only spoke with 4! The rest NEVER RETURNED MY CALL! I figured that was a good indicator that I didn't want to work with them, so it really narrowed the field.

Tangent: I work in a straight commission field as an independent contractor, so maybe I'm harder on people, but seriously - not even bothering to return my call?!?!? I was pretty much saying, I want to hire you. I want to pay you good money to help me, and all you need to do it call me back. I just don't get it sometimes.....

Back to Anne. As I mentioned I spoke with several other SWs on the phone. Although Anne was the most expensive (ranging from about $100-$250 difference) I felt most comfortable with her. She seemed like she knew what she was talking about, she was familiar with new changes to adoption laws and policies, and she was positive. I considered going with the cheapest SW because they are all do the same job, but when I reflected on our conversation I changed my mind. She cited some changes to international adoption policy, but wasn't sure if it applied to Ghana. Instead of finding out and getting back to me, she put all the research on me. And she put me in a panic - she made me think it was highly possible we wouldn't be able to complete the adoption. I figured I needed someone to make the process more smooth, not someone who would ruffle all my feathers and create obstacles where none existed. There are enough hoops to jump through! I don't want extra ones!

So Anne it was. Plus, she was the only one who immediately started sending me paperwork to fill out and a list of documents to start collecting. I am perfectly willing to pay extra for a proactive, speedy response to my needs.