When your application is complete and you have passed your home study what do you do next? How do you get prepared for a child that you don’t know their age, how many of them will there be, boy or girl?
There are so many factors that come into play when you start preparing for a child to be placed with you. When you have a child biologically you know about when the baby will be here, with adoption it could be very quick but it can also take a very long time. The time that it takes to adopt has a lot to do with what qualities that you will accept. For example if you say you only want a blonde hair, blue eyed baby under the age of three months it would take longer for a child to be placed with you. Whereas, if you say you are open to any ethnicity, any gender and your age choices is open you will have more children open for placement with you.
When we started getting ready for a child we picked a room design that could have been for either gender and would work up to about four years old. We painted a wall mural of jungle animals in bright colors. We bought toys that were not gender specific; we had a mini toy store in the kids’ room.
When it comes to clothes and beds you really have to wait until you have been matched with a child. When you are matched you will have a short amount of time to get the bed and clothes for that child. When children come from foster care they really do not come with much, one of our sons had a trash bag with some clothes, one had about 10 outfits and our daughter came to us with one outfit, one can of formula and a few diapers.
See more of our process through other entries:
Becoming a Mom through adoption