We took another step along the road to adoption this past week by attending a 2 day training session at St Johns Church in Fargo on Monday and Tuesday. We started at 1pm on Monday with 3 social workers and 5 other prospective couples. The 2 day session was full of information and emotion.

We did a language exercise to help eliminate some words and phrases that are barriers and can be short sighted. Words and phrases like"keep the baby" and "real parents" are no longer considered politically correct. Adoption of today aims to eliminate the negative stigma that in past has surrounded the adoption process and the children involved.These changes and others have occurred in the past few years and have helped changed the face of adoption to make it more mainstream and accessible to parents and children.

We had a group of speakers which represented all parties that can be involved in adoption. We heard from a birth mother who wasn't ready to raise a child and wanted to give her child everything she couldn't. We heard from a couple who has recently adopted a newborn from ND and are very much like us in terms of where they started in the process and where the ended up. We also heard from a woman who was adopted 20 years ago and she shared some of the problems she had struggled with not knowing much about her birth family.There was very little "openness" in adoptions back then.The 2 day session opened our eyes to what an open adoption can mean to the child and two the adoptive parents.

The 2 days was a great experience and very informative. we were able to see other couples who have similar situations and listen to people who are going through some of the same things. we were enlightened to say the least. The 2 days seemed to have put a spark in us and we are very eager to get the ball rolling faster.

Our next step is to turn in our paperwork and do the home assessment which is 3-4 visits with our case worker and can take about 3 months.

Thank you all for sharing in our journey. remember to ask us if you have any questions about adoption or the process.