Matt and I had our individual interviews last week. Each appointment was at the office and about one hour each. Matt had his the day before mine, so of course he filled me in on what to expect. Our counselor told us that the hour was going to be "all about you". It was basically a timeline of our life. Questions like: where were we born, where did we live, with who, where we went to school, growing up, after school, then what did you do, then what was next, then after that etc. It was really kind of boring and not as exciting as I expected it to be.
She asked if Matt had told me everything she asked and I said yes, but it wasn't the questions I was expecting her to ask. She asked me what I thought she was going to talk about and I told her I thought it would be more about our spouse and marriage since we were by ourself. She said we do talk about all of that stuff at the next interview (2 hour joint interview- final in the homestudy). That is all done when we are both there since it takes two for a marriage we discuss it together.
I can't remember if I mentioned this earlier but during our first training days the adoption supervisor mentioned that there were twins due December 20th. She made the comment that if we hurry and get our profiles done, one of us might get selected by that birthmom. When I went to my individual interview, the counselor told me that the twins had been born the night before and (only 2 lbs but both doing well) apologized because she had 3 phone calls to take during the interview. She said they quickly showed profiles to the mom who selected a family who lived several hours away. They were just arriving in the area as my interview was ending. I was so excited for this family (disappointed at the chance of twins being gone, sure, I was) and how their life was changing. What a phone call to get! Thankfully the babies seemed to be doing well and I can't wait until we get our "call". I just can't wait for the excitement the day will bring!
Showing posts with label interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interview. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The Interview
Matt and I had grandma scheduled to watch B while we went to a "meeting". I wasn't sure what we should wear- I didn't want to look like we dressed up to not look "normal" but wanted to look like we cared about what we were doing! I settled on a new pair of khaki pants and a cute denim looking shirt from Tar-get with my favorite red shoes. Hubby wore the standard khaki and black. I felt comfortable with our look. It was nice-casual, not looking overdone but still simple. It worked even better because my purse was cute as can be with the outfit.
Our meeting was scheduled for 4:30. We arrived about 4:20 and didn't get called back until about 4:50 by the adoption supervisor. It was nervous idle conversation in the waiting room and Matt started to get a little annoyed with the wait. No one bothered to tell us anything about no one coming for us. I started to wonder if they had forgotten about us! I knew we were the last appointment of the day (actually, the last of two days!) so I figured they were just running behind.
Finally, a door opened and here came a cute little couple (total competition) and the lady called us back. She apologized for the delay and I offered if she needed to take a break/ use the rest room etc. since she was obviously going straight into ours. She declined and we followed her into her office.
After several interruptions by people trying to leave for the end of the day, we were able to get started. Her name was M and she was very nice. She is the adoption supervisor. She started by asking if we had any questions from our informational meeting (we didn't) and she was looking over our profile. She liked that we were from Iowa (she was from *.*.) and I also slipped it in a little later that Matt was a PO there. She shared with us that her cousin (her dad and his dad are brothers) was a Sargent there. (one of the guys who helped hubby with the hiring process). Good start..
She outlined the process for how they select families again. They have about 18 interviews and only 6 spots. ( We can't remember the exact number now that she told us). She said that was the bad news, but I told her it was actually good news because it was more spots than I thought. For some reason I was thinking they had only 2 spots. After the interviews, if they don't see any red flags, they sort all of the families into demographic groups. She also told us a little later in the interview that this time around they are looking for families that are more on the East side of the state (we are so far east we are west) and for families with children! Yea! Two points for us!
The categories they sort into are:
*Age (all of us were mid 30s she said)
*Race (all of us are Caucasian she said)
*Location (they serve the whole state and look for families to be spread all over the state- lucky for us, our area is currently low in adoptive parents)
*# of children ( some birth parents look for a family with children already, some with no children...lucky again, she said they are looking for ones with children)
*both parents working (some want to place their child with a stay at home mom)
The discussion was very laid back and comfortable. We had some laughs,. we all shared some stories, and I felt at ease.
Even though these were on the application sheet, she asked us for more details on how we go to where we are, our thoughts on open adoption, and what scenarios we were open to considering.
M told us that she would be in meetings tomorrow and Thursday they would begin to sort the family profiles into groups. She said she did not want to guarantee that we would be accepted into the program but that she liked our answers and thought we had a good understanding of openness and fit the demographics well. She has another meeting on Friday morning but that she will begin making calls on Friday afternoon. She asked what number she should call and since Matt has to work, we told her to call my cell.
Cross your fingers that we make it in- I'll be back on Friday to let you know!
Our meeting was scheduled for 4:30. We arrived about 4:20 and didn't get called back until about 4:50 by the adoption supervisor. It was nervous idle conversation in the waiting room and Matt started to get a little annoyed with the wait. No one bothered to tell us anything about no one coming for us. I started to wonder if they had forgotten about us! I knew we were the last appointment of the day (actually, the last of two days!) so I figured they were just running behind.
Finally, a door opened and here came a cute little couple (total competition) and the lady called us back. She apologized for the delay and I offered if she needed to take a break/ use the rest room etc. since she was obviously going straight into ours. She declined and we followed her into her office.
After several interruptions by people trying to leave for the end of the day, we were able to get started. Her name was M and she was very nice. She is the adoption supervisor. She started by asking if we had any questions from our informational meeting (we didn't) and she was looking over our profile. She liked that we were from Iowa (she was from *.*.) and I also slipped it in a little later that Matt was a PO there. She shared with us that her cousin (her dad and his dad are brothers) was a Sargent there. (one of the guys who helped hubby with the hiring process). Good start..
She outlined the process for how they select families again. They have about 18 interviews and only 6 spots. ( We can't remember the exact number now that she told us). She said that was the bad news, but I told her it was actually good news because it was more spots than I thought. For some reason I was thinking they had only 2 spots. After the interviews, if they don't see any red flags, they sort all of the families into demographic groups. She also told us a little later in the interview that this time around they are looking for families that are more on the East side of the state (we are so far east we are west) and for families with children! Yea! Two points for us!
The categories they sort into are:
*Age (all of us were mid 30s she said)
*Race (all of us are Caucasian she said)
*Location (they serve the whole state and look for families to be spread all over the state- lucky for us, our area is currently low in adoptive parents)
*# of children ( some birth parents look for a family with children already, some with no children...lucky again, she said they are looking for ones with children)
*both parents working (some want to place their child with a stay at home mom)
The discussion was very laid back and comfortable. We had some laughs,. we all shared some stories, and I felt at ease.
Even though these were on the application sheet, she asked us for more details on how we go to where we are, our thoughts on open adoption, and what scenarios we were open to considering.
M told us that she would be in meetings tomorrow and Thursday they would begin to sort the family profiles into groups. She said she did not want to guarantee that we would be accepted into the program but that she liked our answers and thought we had a good understanding of openness and fit the demographics well. She has another meeting on Friday morning but that she will begin making calls on Friday afternoon. She asked what number she should call and since Matt has to work, we told her to call my cell.
Cross your fingers that we make it in- I'll be back on Friday to let you know!
 |
| Enjoying dinner together after the interview so we could talk things over. |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)