Frustrations of State Pre-Adoption: Timeline of an Inquiry

Some inquiries have been straightforward and organized, and all I have to do is call up and ask our previously filed homestudy to be associated with the file. Others are vague and confusing, and it feels like our caseworker might as well attach our homestudy to a balloon and release it, because we'll never get any kind of receipt confirmation. And some are an awful slog, slog, slog, like the one I'm describing below.

I am used to this sort of thing by now, so it doesn't bother me. I thought I'd remark on it so others in the process know what they're getting into!

Timeline of an Inquiry

• mid May: find state photolisting of sibling group. Call contact number to find out caseworker contact info. Referred to wrong number. Keep calling to try to find right number.
• early June: finally reach someone on phone. They give me a detailed description of the siblings and their needs and even why they are in care! This surprises me because usually such information is kept very private. I am given a fax number to send in our homestudy. I ask our caseworker to fax it in.
• July: nothing. Leave a few messages to try and get a receipt confirmation, but no one calls back.
  
• early August: receive a phone call asking us if we would like to a submit homestudy on a sibling group. "Due to privacy reasons nothing further can be communicated, even names" until homestudy receipt. Ha, of course I immediately remember the names from the mention of the two ages. Person confirms the names are correct. They must have lost our homestudy but remembered my phone number. I ask our worker to fax the homestudy again, this time to a different person at a different fax number. Next stage: confirming receipt.