As an extension of the adoption fund xperiment, I’m planing to share about the adoption process as I go through it over the next few years (and beyond). I’d like to do this for four reasons:
- I think it might help fill in some details for those who might want to follow a similar path. I see a lot of general posts about costs and what goes into the process. I’d like to get super specific with all that. Of course, adoptions rarely turn out the same as other adoptions, so you can’t copy one example perfectly. I think it will help bring the whole process home for some readers, though.
- Posting the details, even if people don’t actually use them in any practical sense, helps raise awareness about adoption. It continues the conversation. It gets people talking. And that’s part of why I want to adopt, certainly part of why I chose to make this public fairly early in the process.
- I need help and encouragement. Opening myself to the public can draw a lot of criticism. On the other hand, though, it can also provide a way to get some extra encouragement from others I wouldn’t meet otherwise, perhaps other families (or even singles) further along in the process than I am. I’m hoping to get some encouragement and help from them as I move forward.
- I want to remember how the process goes so I don’t have to relearn everything if I do this again. I’m getting way ahead of myself here, but I’ll just say for now that, yes, it’s a consideration, multiple adoptions, not just this one.
So those are my reasons for documenting the process here, for including you in all this. As a result, expect the posts on adoption to stem from this motivation, the motive of wanting to share my experience for the benefit of others and for myself in the future.
More specifically, I’d like to share four kinds of posts in particular.
- Interviews: I’d like to get in touch with some people who’ve already adopted or who are in the process now and ask them some questions. I like interviewing anyway, so this should be fun.
- Process posts: Like I said already, I want to share some of the details of what goes into the process, everything from the phone calls to the agencies to the selection process to the costs and how it all adds up.
- Links to resources: There’s a ton of information out there, so it’s not always easy to sift through it all. I’d like to post up some of the sites and so on that I find useful.
- My feelings through the process: I’m anticipating that this is going to have a lot of ups and downs. I’d like to document that here and try to really dig into the psychology of adoption.
Most of these details won’t show up for a while still on Marshallogue. Aside from the occasional post with some links to interesting research I dig up, I’m not planning to have a whole lot to say on this over the next couple months. As the process snowballs, though, I’m expecting it to get more intense.
Also, note that I have some other crazy plans for this year and the next that will be announced over the next couple months here. Know that even though some of these other things might take center stage here on the blog, the adoption process and prep, unless I mention otherwise, will continue in the background.
I’m super pumped about what’s coming.
