The Inspection Begins…

07 Oct 2010 2 Comments

by blackberrysmoothie in CAS, Update

We had our first meeting with CAS on Monday.  I was nervous, for two reasons.

One, the meeting was at 8:30 AM.  I am not a morning person.  At all.  I feel like my brain is wrapped in cotton and me no talk good at all before 10 or so.  Left to my own devices and scheduling, I am still in bed at 8:30 AM, and I need a good hour or more to really get going.  Granted, it’s probably good practice for parenthood to get up earlier, but I can pour cereal, make coffee and drive quite well during “warm-up”.  I just can’t think critically or express myself eloquently.  So I was nervous about sounding like a doofus.

Two, I was ready for a fight.  My husband has (is?) bipolar, and I was afraid that this would disqualify us from being adoptive parents.   That would be really really unfair, and I was prepared to get fierce about it if it came up.  I was mentally organizing notes from doctors and considering lawsuits.  There was a bit of a chip on my shoulder going in there.

But it went well.  We spoke to our social worker about our fears, our issues, our expectations and went through the forms that we filled out in our application.  In discussing these forms, we actually changed our answers on some of the questions.  I don’t think I sounded like a doofus, although I did have to sit and think about some answers for a bit.  It would appear we are less starry-eyed and more realistic about this than the average applicants.  We’ve had our struggles, but we gained useful experience by getting through them.  We were honest and real.

And at the end, she said the magic words that allowed me to exhale…. “I see no reason why this shouldn’t be able to go ahead.”

Next step, the home visit…

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