Finally... we have completed the application to adopt through Riverside County!! Only 17 days after I wanted it to be in the mail... oops. However, we have now completed the physicals, TB tests, and both the State and County applications.
Here is a brief summary of how the application process works, to my understanding. When applying to adopt through Riverside County, the process actually starts with both the State of California and Riverside County, concurrently. The state, Community Care Licensing (CCL), will review our application and request live scan fingerprints, at the same time, the county will review our application and request their own set of live scan fingerprints. Once both agencies run background checks on us, CCL will schedule a home licensing inspection. We are well on our way to equipping our new home to be up to CCL standards. Once our home meets all licensing standards and we have passed the criminal record clearance, a license will be issued. Whew! Now the real work begins.
It is my understanding, after we have been licensed, the county will contact us to assign us a social worker and start the home study. The home study is to educate and prepare us, evaluate if we are fit to adopt, and gather information so they can properly match us to a child. From everything I have heard and read, they will ask us every personal question you can think of and dive into every aspect of our lives. Bring it on ;-)
If all of this information is making your head spin, I completely relate! I am so thankful for those that have made themselves available to talk through this process with us, without them I would be scared and lost! I am also thankful for the way the Lord has infiltrated our lives with the topic of adoption. Literally, every where we turn adoption comes us in some for or another. It is prevalent in scriptures, in sermon topics, and in the lives of those around us.
God is working on my heart in some amazing ways, I am learning to trust more fully, I am becoming more compassionate, and I am convinced of His purpose and plan for our lives. How blessed we are to be adopted into Christ home, how fortunate we are to be called His children, how undeserving we are to receive His blessings, and how obligated we are to follow in His footsteps.
Please join us in prayer as our application is being reviewed and please be praying for the little heart that will one day join our family, not only the Gilbert family, but the family of believers who declare Christ Jesus as our Lord, Savior, and adopted Father in Heaven.
