Application Done!

We've finished our application! After taking Open Adopt's Pre-Adoption Seminar, we were allowed to send in all the application forms and start moving forward from there. Next steps: they'll assign us a counselor who will schedule an "Application Interview" with us, and will then take us through the entire homestudy process. Hopefully that interview will happen in the next 2-3 weeks, although we were told the 3 counselors they have in Seattle have been inundated recently, so it might be a few more weeks than normal before we get in for the interview.

(Yeah, there are a lot of steps in the process; see our post on the whole adoption process. We're in the middle of the second step we listed out.)

Just for the record (and because we're proud of getting them done!), here's all the forms we just had to turn in for this stage:

1. Intake form (one each for Andy and Brian)
2. Adoptive Family Information Form
3. Financial Status Form
4. Health History Form (one each)
5. Grievance Policy Form
6. General Release of Information  (one each)
7. Acknowledgment of Adoption Assistance Availability
8. Authorization for Credit Background Check (one each)
9. WA State Criminal Background Form (one each)
10. FBI Authorization for Release of Information (one each)
11. Fingerprint Cards for Background Check (one each)
12. Out of State CPS Clearance Form (one each)
13. Federal Income Tax Return (one each)
14. Signed Copy of OA&FS Contract for Adoption Services

Phew! Glad that's done :) The homestudy has its own set of forms we'll have to do, but those will be much different (and potentially harder). Whereas most of these were simply biographical, the homestudy forms will require a lot more thought and prose writing. For instance, we'll each have to write an autobiography, detailing all important formative elements of our lives (especially with regard to what brought us to adoption and wanting a family), and it should be under 4 pages. Yikes!