Jessica’s Adoption Timeline
February 2019- We attended the Adoption Seminar. At our agency, this was the first step in our adoption journey
February 2019- We submitted our application to our adoption agency.
July 2019- We began the homestudy process. We’d planned to start our homestudy in April, but spontaneously decided to sell our home and buy a new one. We wanted to wait until we were fully settled before beginning, since it involved multiple home visits. Our agency required 3 total meetings. The first and second meetings were at our home and the third was in our counselor's office. During this time, we were actively working on finalizing our family profile. At our 3rd meeting, we filmed our family profile video and discussed adoption parameters. Our agency estimated 6-8 weeks for completion of the homestudy report, which was required before we could enter the pool.
Late November 2019- Our homestudy report was complete! We officially entered the adoption pool and became a “waiting family.”
Early Dec 2019- We received our first screening email.
March 2020- The COVID-19 Pandemic hit, changing so much about our lives, including the nature of our adoption wait.
October 2020-We submitted an updated family profile
January 2nd, 2021- We received a final screening email at 6:31pm. Response was due by 10am the following day.
January 3rd, 2021 3pm- We received “The Call” telling us we had been selected to parent a baby boy that had been born a couple days before.
January 4th, 2021 2:30pm- Adoption Planning 1&2 Meeting birth mama via zoom
January 4th, 2021 5pm- We headed to the hospital. This was when we met Everett, but since paperwork hadn’t been signed yet, we were considered guests.
January 4th, 2021 7pm- We signed adoption paperwork.
January 5th, 2021- We spent the day at the NICU, for the first time as Everett’s parents.
January 19th 2021- Everett was discharged from the NICU, and came home for the first time.
April 2021- Everett’s adoption was finalized, and we were legally his parents!
For more details of Everett’s adoption story, see my blog post.
