Training

This past weekend we attended a two day training course put on by our agency.  The state of Colorado requires adoptive parents to complete 16 hours of training before they will place a child in your home.  I went into the training with an attituded of just wanting it to be over so we could cross another thing off our list.  Boy was I surprised and impressed with our agency and the production they gave!  They addressed issues I didn't think we would be confronted with since we are adopting from birth.  Even infants can suffer trauma from being separated from their mother, the only voice and heartbeat they have ever heard.  We were taught ways to diminish this anxiety and how we can be involved to develop the trust the baby will need. 

The second day they had a panel of birth mothers who gave their story and how they came to the decision to place their baby for adoption.  I didn't know it would get so emotional!  This part of the training was the most meaningful to Karl and I.  We had planned to pursue an open adoption with the birth mother but without having met her, it's hard to know what this relationship is going to look like.  And while many people have concerns about keeping the mother involved, studies and experience have shown the child to be a more adjusted individual if they know their birth mother and the story of where they came from.  These women have made an amazingly brave choice to place their child up for adoption and they just want to know what their child's life looks like. 

We left with an abundance of information.  It was also very neat because there were two couples at the training who we knew!  It's such a small world.  One of them we knew in Phoenix 7 years ago and didn't even know they lived here!  We left the weekend with new friends and reunited with old friends, all of us in this journey together.