Paperwork, check

I'm confident that the phase where you could lose focus the easiest the paperwork phase. We returned home from Foundations, the weekend long training with great excitement about the road ahead. We knew what was required of us and even had a plan in place. The goal was to complete everything by the end of October, which gave us a little bit of time to fill things out, set up appointments with the doctor etc.

We did what we needed to do, its just that you start filling everything out and hear nothing in return. At least that was our experience. When I say we heard nothing in return, I mean nothing. We started uploading our papers, emailing to see if they had been received and still nothing. It was heartbreaking, because we started hearing stories of children who couldn't be placed with foster parents because "there weren't any foster parents" and here we are, trying to become foster parents, and nothing. No communication, no encouragement, nothing.

Our church however, continues to be a source of encouragement. We are surrounded by people who are pushing us along, making the process a little less painless. One thing Faithbridge really strives for, is a Community of Care. A Community of Care is 4-5 families around each Foster Family as a means of support. To serve in this way, you have to go through some of the training we have already completed. Even though we had already done the training, we decided to go again for two reasons. Our friends were going for the sole purpose of supporting us. Secondly, we thought it might provide for us the opportunity to meet the right people, to help connect the hoses.

The week leading up to this repeat training, we started asking ourselves 'are we even in the system?' 'does anyone know we exist?' among others. We showed up on Sunday, and began to sign in. "D and Christie Smith," we said. "Oh, are you interested in fostering?" we were asked. "Well, we are, and we have completed both trainings and most of our paperwork…" we explained.  Puzzled we were looked at with confusion. "Hummm, I wonder why we don't know who you are?" Bingo! Our exact question.

Somehow, the crossover to the electronic system allowed us to be 'missed in the system' and we were sort of unknown going through everything.  But attending the training again allowed Faithbridge to know who we are and help us the rest of the way. The figured out what was left for us to complete, gave us a checklist, and within 4 days we had it all done. Before that, we were simply guessing what was left. They are currently finalizing that everything has been submitted and soon we will begin the home studies!

I'm telling you, its not that the paperwork was the hard part, its going through unknown and alone. But alas, that part is over. We are ready to move on. One step closer to becoming parents!!!


 & D : )