Frustrations of this Adoptive Mama!!

Let me break it down for you what us Adoptive Parents have to do to be "ready" for a baby or child.

1) Questionnaires out the wazoo, consisting of everything you have been doing for up to the last 10 yrs, criminal history, employment,where you've lived,where your parents live,hobbies,lifestyle,hair,eyes & skin color,where & when were you married, if you are not married why, financial status broken down to monthly expenses of rent/mortgage,food,clothing,medical dental,transportation,recreation,child care expenses,utilities,car payments,car insurance payments,credit cards and loans,monthly income,assests,life insurance,medical history,psychological testing,counseling,martial history.

You still with me?

2)copy of marriage licenses and birth certificates, 3 letters of references from family or friends(but not all 3 can be from family members, so you have to go find at least 1 friend)

3)Statewide criminal history check on each adult in the home. Yeah, they don't go on your word. You have to be fingerprinted and have the fingerprints sent to the State in which you reside.

4)Statewide child abuse and neglect check on each adult in the home.

5)Verification of income. (recent pay check stubs and/or most recent 1040 tax returns)

Still not takin your word!

6)Verification of medical insurance.(Statement of summary of benefits)

7)Proof of life insurance

8)Statement for health on all members of the household. This one is so fun to do! You get to go to your doctor and have him sign the letter you've so graciously typed for him and make sure he signs his name pretty and you can interpret every single letter.

If anyone reading this knows who my doctor is, you are laughing as you imagine me explaining the rules to him on the correct way to signing his name and can actually hear him cussing a blue streak!! Gotta love him though!

9)Safety/fire/health inspection of your home.(to be completed by Social Worker)

10)RECENT PET VACCINATIONS!!!!

11)copy of both of your driver's licenses

12)over 100 pictures of you and your spouse, and 6-7 with your child. Yes, there are rules on the pics too!

p.s. there is a time limit in which all of this has to be completed.

And can you believe people actually make the comment,"you took the easy way out by adopting"

Really? Are you kidding me? Mamas who are adopting DO GET HORMONAL PEOPLE!

When your heart aches for a child, all of this is a breeze to complete! I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, because I am not one bit. This is how we brought our beautiful princess home. If we had the financial means we would keep adopting! That is our dream!

My argument is what do parents do to become "ready" for a child? There is no age limit.(as there now is in China) No background check on child abuse or neglect,proof of finiancial stability or mental stability, home studies to make sure your home meets the standards of brining a child into your home. Yes, America is the land of the free and home of the brave, but IN MY OPINION, if there were some regulations implemented horror stories such as: children being left at home alone for days without food, babies left in the car outside of nightclubs while parents are partying it up, or the most recent bizarre, mind boggling story of Caylee Anthony would decrease. I would no longer have to take skeletal survey x-rays of children that are suspected of abuse. In a perfect world....