Meeting with the Social Worker...

In theory, having a Social Worker over to inspect our home - and more importantly, us - sounded scary. What would she think of us? Was our house up to par? Should we hide the pile of magazines? Or would a lack of homeyness indicate some kind of emotional sterility? Should we have cookies for her? Or would that make us seem like junk food parents? Blah, blah, blah... went our thoughts along these lines (I exaggerate, but only slightly!).

In reality, our first home study visit went very well. Our social worker, Heidi, was wonderful. Warm, professional, informative, and encouraging. We all enjoyed meeting her, and somehow the process seems even more real, too. Everyone at our home study agency, Partners for Adoption (www.partnersforadoption.org) has been terrific. They do a lot of work with our agency, Great Wall China Adoption (www.gwca.org) and we feel very confident in the process!