Adoption Update in the Upstate!

I have decided that when one decides to adopt interntionally your motto must be..."If the Ministry of Education tells you to jump, you simply ask, "How high?" We found out Wednesday that we need to have a certificate completed by a psychologist or a psychiatrist stating that we are emotionally stable to parent adoptive children. Apparently a mother that adopted a child from our region has been charged with child abuse and the child has been removed from the home. The agency that completed the placement is under investigation and our agency anticipates that this psychiatric certificate will soon be a requirement in Rostov on Don. I made several phone calls yesterday and was suprised at how difficult it was to find someone to do this. I think if I could have gotten past the receptionist, I would have had better luck. They just kept telling me that they didn't do psychological evaluations. Seriously!! Then what do you do!! After several phone calls that went like that I decided to call individuals in private practice and I talked to a doctor (the actual doctor) and he told me to fax him the certificate and he would take a look at it. I am now waiting to hear from him. I am giving him until Monday and then I am going to call him back. I've also got a call into the a friend of mine that is a therapist in a private practice, maybe she can recommend someone.

The good news is that is still looks like we will travel this spring. Our case manager has three families assigned to Rostov and the other case manager has two. She also said that many times more than one family will go to Rostov at about the same time, so we won't be waiting for each family to complete their adoption before another one travels. She also told us that if children come available in another region that she thinks we might be interested in she would give us a call and we could move our paperwork. I am not real crazy about that idea because we would have to re-do some of the paperwork and I am getting a little weary of that.

Well, I should close. Rourk is off to a continuing education class and I am off to breakfast with a friend of mine. Ryan's going to go play for a couple of hours at the church.