Submitted on Multiple Sibling Groups in TX

Hi All! We are submitted on multiple sibling groups right now. We made our first submission at the end of last month and several more at the beginning of this month. Our CW hasn't been able to provide us any kind of update yet. I know, patience is ESSENTIAL in this process, but we waited a year and a half to get licensed because our pre-service CW kept losing our documents and I feel like I used all my patience out with her. Any kind of insight from someone who has been in a similar situation would be very helpful. I know every case is unique so it's hard to give timelines, but I'd love to know what the process/timeline looked like for other families. I am just feeling a little beaten down by the whole thing so any insight or encouragement is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Call your worker once a week for an update.

: : Hello. I can tell you from experience that this process can be unpredictable. At least in terms of state foster care adoption, some people submit on only a few children and within only a short month or two, they get matched. My adoption worker was enthusiastic about it being easy to match me. However ... a year and about 30 submissions later, I'm hoping to be in the process of a final match now. Yes, you read that right. One whole year I've been in matching and I've submitted on about 30 children. That doesn't mean I haven't been considered for anyone this year. I' ve been considered for about 12-15 children and been scheduled to be taken to committee on about 5 or 6 and even offically matched for one that I had to turn down. However, what this matching phase has taught me is that this is a BIG life decision and once the excitement of the new experience and the "honeymoon" phase is over, you are responsible for a fragile little person (or more) that have experienced some heart breaking trauma and all that trauma brings will be challenging (to help heal, grow, and learn) on top of the regular parenting challenges. Keeping that in mind, meant the decisions about which child would truly be the right match for me got much harder. I'd rather wait a year for the right match and know I've made the absolute right descision for myself and my child. How have I survived the wait this long? I check in with my adoption worker at least once a week. I don't "bug" her but rather say "just checking in ... have you heard anything? I know you are busy and I really do appreciate all the work you are doing to help me find my match". Hearing from her every week helps keep me going. Also, I'm on these forums ALL the time! And I just take it one day and one week at a time. I am constantly looking at the calender and counting each day. I also take breaks from the whole adoption process when I'm mentally and emotionally burned out. I just go do fun things with friends and family and don't talk about adoption at ll. I know this is hard. Best of luck. : :