Depending upon the agency you choose for your adoption, you may be required to undergo post-placement visits. Our agency requires two visits, and we had our first one today.

Post-placement visits are intended to assess how well both the adopted children and the adoptive parents are adjusting to their new family life. Because the goal is framed as a positive one – to keep families together and avoid disruptions – your social worker is a valuable resource.

Our social worker found that things were progressing amazingly well for only four weeks at home. She was pleased that we had already put so many things into place already and accessed many needed services: the children have had pediatric visits, dentist visits, therapy (and a diagnosis!), medical specialist referrals set, homeschooling begun, and support groups sought out for siblings of children with special needs. She was also able to give us additional resources – a book referral – The Parent Handbook.

The social worker met with all of the children and visited their rooms. Then she met with hubby and I to go over the required paperwork. She asked us about homeschooling (of which she was quite supportive!), doctor’s visits, family rituals and nighttime routines. She wanted to know about personality traits and what disciplinary methods were being employed, as well as finding out how the children were responding to said discipline. Several times during the visit, our youngest came in for liberal hugging from both Mommy and Daddy, and our social worker commented on how she could see the kids were really attaching and how crucial a cornerstone that is for a positive outcome to the emotional/behavioral issues we are facing.

Overall, it was a great visit. During this past week, hubby and I have tweaked a few things here and there. That, in concert with just settling into a routine for school, has made a significant impact on the quality of life for our family. It doesn’t feel like each day is spent merely rushing from fire to fire and putting one out, only to have another start up! We are actually experiencing some quiet times in-between fires, and the fires seem less and less severe. Her visit gave this parched mama some much needed water to keep on going with the things we are doing, and offered an outside affirmation that, though we may feel battle-weary at times, significant gains are being made!

We have one more (very casual) visit scheduled - this one to be held in her office – before the interlocutory decree we have converts to a fully final one in January.