Lots of Dad Couples in the City

Today was the first meeting with our assigned social worker. We attended a seminar a month ago and got a very quick overview of what to expect during the process. It was a very uncomfortable seminar, there were three straight couples and a single guy plus the ministry worker crammed in a board room. We heard horror stories about children in care, we heard dismal stats about the success of children that stay in government care, we spent an hour with the unvarnished truth. And it was hard to hear - it was heart breaking to hear.

My doctor went through an adoption with the ministry as well and warned me about the heart break. She also warned me that the two social workers she dealt with when adopting were bitchy and nasty.

Bitchy and nasty. Not the type of personality you want guiding you through a super emotional process. I figured the social workers were meant to be nasty and bitchy and if a prospective parent was able to deal with them - they could deal with adopting a child.

So, going into the meeting this morning, I expected it to be uncomfortable. I expected my social worker to be bitchy. And I expected to be grilled at length about really excruciatingly personal aspects of my life.

I was pleasantly surprised when the woman who will be working with us turned out to be *awesome*. We spent about an hour plus going over our application, getting to know each other, talking about the process and expectations. She told us about three other dad couples that have adopted through the ministry in our city. Our city ain't that big - so nor is the gay community - 3 dad couples is a big thing!

I walked out of the meeting feeling terrified as the idea of child in our life got a little closer and more concrete but also feeling absolutely exhilarated. I feel like we have a guide that we like and trust, I feel that there are other gay parents out there doing the same thing we want to do - so we have mentors and people that can tell us about the process. I feel this kid is just a little closer than yesterday.