For your reading pleasure:
I've learned how to add links to my blog and you can see them over on the right there. "Playing with Myself" is not a masturbatory porn site, it's my brother's board-gaming blog. "Checking Boxes" is the blog of another Australian couple who are at the same part of the journey as us, and we will be meeting them at Education in a little under a week. "Bringing Home Olivia" is the story of a Canadian couple who are very close to allocation. I recommend having a look at the You Tube video on the first page of this blog which shows babies in a Chinese orphanage.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Saturday, November 18, 2006
16 November 2006
"I am writing concerning your interest in being assessed as suitable prospective adoptive parents for a child born overseas.
An essential part of the Intercountry adoption process is attendance at an Education Program. Information relating to contemporary adoption practice and the nature of adoption is complex. Attending educational groups is a necessary and valuable part of preparation for adoptive parenting.
The groups provide an opportunity for you to meet with staff of the Intercountry Adoption Unit and other people who have expressed an interest in being assessed as suitable prospective adoptive parents of a child born overseas.
The Education Progra will be conducted over two days, with both applicants required to attend. The program will cover a broad range of issues related to Intercountry adoption and provide the opportunity to address and discuss issues that are of concern to you.
SESSION INFORMATION:
Date: Friday 1st December & Saturday 2nd December 2006
Location: Brisbane
The program will start at 9.00am sharp with coffee from 8.30am. It is expected that each day's sessions will finish by 4.30pm. Morning & afternoon tea will be provided. May I suggest that you bring a picnic lunch to have in the grounds of the facility.
We understand that it is sometimes not easy to arrange to attend a two days workshop; however it is not possible for couples to be assessed until after attendance at the Education Sessions.
As sessions are adult focused, it is requested that you make your own child care arrangements (if applicable) as there are no child care facilities at the venue.
An attendance form is attached. Please complete and return the form to the Intercountry Adoption Unit as soon as possible.
After your registration is received, we will forward a letter confirming the date and a map of the location of the venue. Your timely response in confirming or declining your attendance at the education sessions will be appreciated.
Should you wish to discuss any of the above, please call...."
"I am writing concerning your interest in being assessed as suitable prospective adoptive parents for a child born overseas.
An essential part of the Intercountry adoption process is attendance at an Education Program. Information relating to contemporary adoption practice and the nature of adoption is complex. Attending educational groups is a necessary and valuable part of preparation for adoptive parenting.
The groups provide an opportunity for you to meet with staff of the Intercountry Adoption Unit and other people who have expressed an interest in being assessed as suitable prospective adoptive parents of a child born overseas.
The Education Progra will be conducted over two days, with both applicants required to attend. The program will cover a broad range of issues related to Intercountry adoption and provide the opportunity to address and discuss issues that are of concern to you.
SESSION INFORMATION:
Date: Friday 1st December & Saturday 2nd December 2006
Location: Brisbane
The program will start at 9.00am sharp with coffee from 8.30am. It is expected that each day's sessions will finish by 4.30pm. Morning & afternoon tea will be provided. May I suggest that you bring a picnic lunch to have in the grounds of the facility.
We understand that it is sometimes not easy to arrange to attend a two days workshop; however it is not possible for couples to be assessed until after attendance at the Education Sessions.
As sessions are adult focused, it is requested that you make your own child care arrangements (if applicable) as there are no child care facilities at the venue.
An attendance form is attached. Please complete and return the form to the Intercountry Adoption Unit as soon as possible.
After your registration is received, we will forward a letter confirming the date and a map of the location of the venue. Your timely response in confirming or declining your attendance at the education sessions will be appreciated.
Should you wish to discuss any of the above, please call...."
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
I spoke to a lovely woman in the Expression of Interest team last week (they are so helpful there) and she told me that they were just waiting on our police checks and if they are okay then we should be invited to attend Education on 1 & 2 December. Now, I know our police checks will be fine (we both have blue cards) so I am biting my nails waiting for the letter with our invitation.
1 December is my work Christmas lunch, and the kids' Christmas play but both will be hastily cast aside if we are invited to Education. The kids understand - they want a baby sister as much as we do. God, I love them. They are beautiful children.
It's only 3 weeks until our holiday to China. We will leave on 4 December and have 2 nights in Shanghai, then 4 nights in Wuxi visiting Holly (our Chinese student) who will be home with her parents at that time. Then we are planning to take the train up to Beijing for a few touristy days. As we have a company in the sustainability industry, an industry colleague has offered to take us around near Beijing and show us a demonstation sustainability project. Scott is REALLY looking forward to this, as am I. The Chinese are a long way ahead of us in terms of environmentalism, and I guess this has been forced upon them as a way of dealing with their enormous population. On the way home we will stop in Tokyo for 2 or 3 nights, depending on whether we want to spend an arm AND a leg on accommodation, or just one limb.
1 December is my work Christmas lunch, and the kids' Christmas play but both will be hastily cast aside if we are invited to Education. The kids understand - they want a baby sister as much as we do. God, I love them. They are beautiful children.
It's only 3 weeks until our holiday to China. We will leave on 4 December and have 2 nights in Shanghai, then 4 nights in Wuxi visiting Holly (our Chinese student) who will be home with her parents at that time. Then we are planning to take the train up to Beijing for a few touristy days. As we have a company in the sustainability industry, an industry colleague has offered to take us around near Beijing and show us a demonstation sustainability project. Scott is REALLY looking forward to this, as am I. The Chinese are a long way ahead of us in terms of environmentalism, and I guess this has been forced upon them as a way of dealing with their enormous population. On the way home we will stop in Tokyo for 2 or 3 nights, depending on whether we want to spend an arm AND a leg on accommodation, or just one limb.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Cost for two adults & two children to be immunised against:
- Tetanus (for me & Scott)
- Hepatitis A and
- Typhoid
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Today is 31st October, my self-imposed deadline for having all documentation back for establishing our eligibility. I knew the only thing that the Dept of Child Safety didn't have was one reference so I sent a text message reminder to my lovely friend Lisa yesterday and she was on the phone this morning telling me that she was completing the form as we spoke, and she was happy to ring the Dept and get their fax number so that they would receive everything today.
Now to wait and see what happens next...
We are planning to be in China for holidays from about 3-18 December so hopefully we will make our next move prior to that.
In the meantime, I am comfortable with several words of Mandarin. The most useful ones include:
Me, I, my, mine
You, yours
He/she, his/hers
Like
don't like
am, is
friend
mother
Thank you
hello
how are you? Well, thank you or Not so good.
and the numbers up to 7.
I like Mandarin. It's a practical, sensible language. So long as you are only trying to speak it, that is, not write it.
Now to wait and see what happens next...
We are planning to be in China for holidays from about 3-18 December so hopefully we will make our next move prior to that.
In the meantime, I am comfortable with several words of Mandarin. The most useful ones include:
Me, I, my, mine
You, yours
He/she, his/hers
Like
don't like
am, is
friend
mother
Thank you
hello
how are you? Well, thank you or Not so good.
and the numbers up to 7.
I like Mandarin. It's a practical, sensible language. So long as you are only trying to speak it, that is, not write it.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Quick update - I had my medical on Wednesday and Scott had his yesterday. I just have to get my chest x-rays on Monday and assuming all is okay then our medical part will be all done.
Jeannie from the EOI Team called me to say that we can't use Damien as a referee because he doesn't live in Queensland so our friend Cahrol has come to the party instead. Very impressively, Jeannie received our paperwork on Wednesday and sent the referee's forms out the same day. Cahrol received hers on Thursday and sent it back the same day. yay! Thank goodness, because I forgot she was going to Peru for a month leaving Friday.
So all is going swimmingly at this point. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
It's Gemma's 11th birthday today and Ben's 6th birthday on Monday. Hopefully by the time they turn 13 and 8, they will have a Mei Mei (little sister.)
Jeannie from the EOI Team called me to say that we can't use Damien as a referee because he doesn't live in Queensland so our friend Cahrol has come to the party instead. Very impressively, Jeannie received our paperwork on Wednesday and sent the referee's forms out the same day. Cahrol received hers on Thursday and sent it back the same day. yay! Thank goodness, because I forgot she was going to Peru for a month leaving Friday.
So all is going swimmingly at this point. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
It's Gemma's 11th birthday today and Ben's 6th birthday on Monday. Hopefully by the time they turn 13 and 8, they will have a Mei Mei (little sister.)
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Yesterday we got the letter. THE letter. The "we invite you to establish your eligibility" letter. The letter that means we are officially in the process. Woohoo! There are 3 parts to this next step.
1. Health Assessment - We need a complete medical check by our family doctor as well as chest x-rays. I've made appointments for Scott & I to see Dr Julie next week to have this done. I have to confess to how much alcohol I drink. Oh thank god I don't smoke any more. Smoking is a big no-no. They ask about genetic diseases. My mother has MND - I wonder if I have to tell them that? It's not proven to be genetic - it's only a theory, and we are not aware of anyone else in the family having it. I will ask Dr Julie. I have to tell them about the health of my parents anyway so I'll need to admit to it there, but I don't want to write it in the box next to "are you aware of any... genetic predispostion to any medical condition which may affect your life expectancy?" Oh, and I have to have a pap smear. Can't hardly wait.
2. References about your suitability - I have already spoken to two good friends of ours who are prepared to lie... er... I mean... tell them what wonderful people we are. Truth is, there are so many people we could have chosen as referees but we chose two who we think are reliable enough to write back considering we don't know how much paperwork is involved. So thank you to Lisa & Damien who love us and want to help us in The Quest for the Holy Girl. If you read this in a few years time, you can say "hey, look - we were part of that!"
3. Criminal history checks - We will piss this in. Scott has a few speeding fines (which he hates me mentioning) but otherwise we are squeaky clean. Good boys and girls. Consider this children - if you do naughty, silly things when you are little, when you are a grown-up it can affect you in ways you never dreamed of. Like you might not be able to adopt. So be good. Thus endeth the lesson.
I am aiming to have all of this paperwork done and back to them by the end of October. If we pass this stage I think we are assigned a social worker and then have to pay another $2000. Ooh, I am getting excited!
1. Health Assessment - We need a complete medical check by our family doctor as well as chest x-rays. I've made appointments for Scott & I to see Dr Julie next week to have this done. I have to confess to how much alcohol I drink. Oh thank god I don't smoke any more. Smoking is a big no-no. They ask about genetic diseases. My mother has MND - I wonder if I have to tell them that? It's not proven to be genetic - it's only a theory, and we are not aware of anyone else in the family having it. I will ask Dr Julie. I have to tell them about the health of my parents anyway so I'll need to admit to it there, but I don't want to write it in the box next to "are you aware of any... genetic predispostion to any medical condition which may affect your life expectancy?" Oh, and I have to have a pap smear. Can't hardly wait.
2. References about your suitability - I have already spoken to two good friends of ours who are prepared to lie... er... I mean... tell them what wonderful people we are. Truth is, there are so many people we could have chosen as referees but we chose two who we think are reliable enough to write back considering we don't know how much paperwork is involved. So thank you to Lisa & Damien who love us and want to help us in The Quest for the Holy Girl. If you read this in a few years time, you can say "hey, look - we were part of that!"
3. Criminal history checks - We will piss this in. Scott has a few speeding fines (which he hates me mentioning) but otherwise we are squeaky clean. Good boys and girls. Consider this children - if you do naughty, silly things when you are little, when you are a grown-up it can affect you in ways you never dreamed of. Like you might not be able to adopt. So be good. Thus endeth the lesson.
I am aiming to have all of this paperwork done and back to them by the end of October. If we pass this stage I think we are assigned a social worker and then have to pay another $2000. Ooh, I am getting excited!
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