Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Hurry up and wait

It's been a while since we've posted anything about the adoption process, and there's good news. We are almost finished with the work of getting out there and being approved to go forward. Our home study was approved, our Dear Birth Mother letter is close to being approved, and our website is ready to go except for some pictures we need to add. Everything is coming together nicely, and now I need to brainstorm ways to network within our circles and outside of them. (Kenny has done all the design work for letter and websites, so my job is to network!) The agency we are working with does plenty of outreach for us, but it can't hurt for us to make our presence known around town. We'll make business cards to pin up around Purdue, and I'll have to make some phone calls to hospitals and OBGYN's to see if they are open to keeping our information on hand in case they come across a girl who is scared and wants to know her options. We will have what look like press kits ready to go, with our Dear Birth mother letter, a cover letter, and a brochure from the agency explaining what open adoption is and how the potential birth mother can contact our counselor. During the networking process, I will be open to any of your suggestions and would be extremely grateful if any of you would like a "press kit" to disperse or have more ideas of places to take them. I am thinking about the high schools around here, and I will send one to our high school in Monticello, but I think it could be potentially more awkward if a former student were to consider placing with us. I'm sure if it happened I'd change my mind, but for now, it's weird. Here are some places I'm imagining taking some cards or making phones calls to:
social workers at local hospitals
counselors or residence assistants at dorms of Purdue
Planned Parenthood, although our agency networks with them already
Crisis pregnancy centers- I think there are a couple around here
bars (this is a joke right now, but I bet I'll change my mind later!)
high school counselors
Ivy Tech
churches

Now is where we need your help. I worry about random phone calls to our 1-800 number in the middle of the night from girls who aren't pregnant, although we send them directly to the agency and they weed out anyone who is part of a scam. So some of the above choices make me nervous. Can any of you suggest network options, or do you know or work for anyone who could pass on our information? There is a chain-like e mail we were given, but I usually delete forwards the minute I see FWD at the top of the e mail. On the other hand, it could travel quickly and end up in the right hands. Please feel free to comment or send me a note if you have ideas or know of someone who knows a person who knows a person who knows a person...
Our hope is that the right birth mother is out there somewhere deciding to make a choice that's best for her baby, but I just can't imagine Kenny and I sitting around waiting for that to fall in our laps. The wait could be very long for us and I'm starting to get sad and anxious just thinking about it. We know lots of smart, creative, and thoughtful people, so I'm hoping you all are reading this!
Thanks for taking an interest in the process and keeping up with us.

2 comments:

  1. Wish I lived closer and cold help out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Becky . . . . I don't know if you know about "Blog Awards" or not, but I want to pay forward an award I recieved to you.

    The award is called the Liebster Blog Award . . . meaning favorite blog award. I am supposed to give it to a 5 bloggers I appreciate and value.

    I am giving the award to you, if you want it, in honor of your one-day baby who will so appreciate all of the work you put into getting she/him/them into your life. I value the values you will be passing on to this addition to your family.

    Now all you need to do is stop by my blog to pick it up, if you wish.

    Paula

    ReplyDelete