My winter break goal was to complete my entire folder of paperwork. Here are the forms that needed to be filled out and signed by both of us:
Home Study Evaluation Agreement
Notification of Placement of Child in Home
Discipline Policy
HIV Policy
Guardianship
Medical Living Expense Non-Reimbursement Acknowledgment NJ
Financial Form with supporting documents (like our mortgage statement, etc.)
Here are the forms that required going places in order to get them completed:
Medical Examination Form
Pediatric Report
Local Police Clearance
Employment Verification Letters
NJ State Criminal Fingerprint Clearance
FBI Criminal Fingerprint Clearance
NJ State Child Abuse Clearance
Out of State Child Abuse Clearance (for every state lived in since age 18, which for me is 4 different states and for Nghia is 3.)
And here are the documents we had to make copies of:
Driver's License
Health Insurance Cards
Birth Certificates (Although Nghia doesn't have one because he wasn't born in this country, so he has Proof of Citizenship.)
Marriage License
Social Security Cards
IRS Forms (W-2 and first page of 1040)
In addition to all of this, we both had to fill out 20 pages of questions for our autobiographies. It took me 5 hours to complete mine.
It is with situations like this that my uptight, anxious nature really works for me. It feels so good to know that nearly everything on this list is complete. I still have to get my Medical Examination Form filled out, but the appointment is scheduled. The earliest my Dr. could get me in is next week. Other than that, everything is done! Well, everything at this stage of the process. There's still more...
In 2 weeks we will have our second Home Study meeting. Sometime this month we will have our actual Home Study, where a social worker will come to our house to make observations. In February we will have 2 more meetings and THEN WE WILL BE DONE!!!
(Of course, everyone who has gone through this before tells me that the waiting is the hardest part. I can't even imagine what waiting for a year would feel like, and it's a very real possibility. So I guess I shouldn't get too excited yet.)
