Week 6 - Waiting for the phone to ring

Now that the training is over with, we are very keen to get on with the home assessment.

We feel we have started the ball rolling and want to keep it in motion, but all this waiting around makes us a bit downhearted to be honest.

It's a case of simply 'waiting around'. I don't want to go out in case the phone rings and it is the social worker. But I don't want to be sat here on pins either.

So, we have to carry on with everything as before, whilst waiting for this life-changing event to happen.

Throughout everything, it is the waiting that is the hardest to bear.

There is not a lot to report on this week really, to be truthful.

We have done a lot of talking about the various issues in the training. We didn't realise there was so much involved with adoption; it has opened our eyes to a lot of issues we did not know about.

So much of our time this week has been taken up with talking...and waiting for the phone to ring...

We also realised through the training, that it would not be a major change in our lives, but would also totally change the lives of the children that come to live with us.

In saying that, I don't mean it never occurred to us that it would change their lives; we just never knew to what extent it would.

For example, they may be fostered at present with contact with their birth family, but one day we will come along, take them away from the home they know and people they are close to, and bring them to our home, with, perhaps, contact stopped, leaving everything they have ever known and loved behind.

It's so hard to imagine what that would be like. I find this bit quite hard to handle at present.

I can't imagine how I would have coped with that as a child. It is something I will have to learn to accept as time goes on I expect.

So, while we sit here, waiting, we are talking. This adoption application has made us be more open with each other.

It's the only way to be really. To hold back on our feelings at this stage, would be disastrous in the end. To be open and honest with each other is a must.

The phone is ringing again...maybe this time it's the social worker...

E-mail Ann and Rob

See also:

Week 5 - Preparation training
Week 4 - Thinking ahead
Week 3 - Parental responsibilities
Week 2 - We are on our way...and it feels so good
Week 1 - The social worker is coming
More about Ann and Rob