Adoption benefits in the workplace

Something that we did not know much about before beginning this adoption journey was that many companies through the US offer employees not just maternity leave for adoption, but also offer adoption benefits in the form of reimbursment of fees.  This is a growing trend because less than 1% of all employees will adopt each year, but it provides the company with another great benefit to keep up with the competition.

Companies such as Bank of America, Time Warner, the NBA, Hanes, Nike, Wendy's, and others offer their employees these benefits.  Just knowing that makes me appreciate those companies more (even Time Warner, whom I hate dealing with on a customer satisfaction basis!).

As of now, our companies do not offer such benefits. The reimbursement would be amazing (ah-mazing!) when considering all of the costs involved.  But the one I am more worried about is the maternity leave.  A huge part of the maternity leave is to have time to bond with your baby.  With adoption, this time is even more important.

So I have been working on a proposal to present to my human resources department, and ultimately on to finance and our president.  Who knew adoption would turn me into a policy maker? ;)  I was able to find great information thanks to the Dave Thomas Foundation's "Adoption Friendly Workplace" materials, which has made it a lot easier.  I'll keep you posted on what happens, what they approve (or do not approve).  Wish me/us luck!

PS- Have to recognize my awesome sister-in-law and nephew and niece for their help!  They have gone around our hometown on "Operation: Baby K" posting flyers and sharing information about our adoption plans.  So cute that our baby's cousins are such a part of this. We love you guys!

Makes me smile

We went baby shopping yesterday.  For 4 hours.  Ha! Poor Matt, what a trooper.

Can I say that it is overwhelming looking at 'everything' at a baby store?  So many options!  We are lucky to have a bunch of friends who have had babies this past year, to ask for recommendations.

Our plan is to take care of the necessities for the first 6-8 weeks of time now, so that we don't have to stress when we 'match' with an expectant mother.  We could match with someone 3 months along, or with someone who is 2 days away from their due date.  And then we can worry about the fun stuff after everything clears legally, and we can go to NY to show off our baby to friends and family up there.

Had to share this picture from yesterday though.  Matt really liked a certain stroller/travel system, but I wanted to read more reviews (go figure).  We went home, read reviews, had it recommended by friends too, and decided that was the one we'd buy.  I thought we'd buy it the next time we went out shopping, but Matt wanted it RIGHT THEN.  So he went back out to get the stroller at 6pm on a Sunday. 

He was so excited to put it together for the bebe.  What a guy :)

Parenting class

I just signed Matt and I up for a parenting class offered by the local hospital on 7/22.  Infant CPR and Taking Care of Baby.  So excited!  In a way, I feel like it is similar to the excitment someone would get about going back to school after working for a while.  When you are first in college, you don't get excited about classes.  But after being in the 'real world' for awhile, you get pumped to try another round of school.  If we had gotten pregnant and done the normal thing, I don't know if we'd even think to take a parenting class.  But because we have been waiting so long to be parents, this feels like a real step, and so we are excited!  (Maybe me more so than Matt!  haha)

Other weekend goals:  Hang flyers and/or business cards on area bulletin boards... possibly shop for the nursery (!!!!!!!!!!).... and hit up a pool, it is HOT out!

Matt's sister has graciously been offering tips on what we should buy first, what we'll need in those first few weeks, what brands are good, etc.  Anyone else have suggestions?  Leave a comment below or shoot us an email!

Spoke too soon

Spoke too soon.  Just got a generic email saying that our advertisement was rejected.  What?  Why?

After sitting on hold for 5 minutes, I spoke to someone in the online advertising department that said that they don't really do adoption advertising anymore, because it can get 'messy.'   Again... what?

Legally in North Carolina, we have the right to advertise as long as we have a completed and approved home study/ preplacement assessment.  You just have to state this clearly in the advertisement, along with the home study agency and the date the study was completed.  I did this.  I was going to be paying $35 extra just to add that info (

Phone calls and emails are unanswered so far.  I want them to tell me why people can advertise for all sorts of companionship (ew), but when we want to start our family, that is considered messy.

This is bothering me more than it should.  I think I am sick of everything having to be so much tougher for people who turn to adoption to start their family. 

First classified ad

Welp, we've placed our first classified ad!

Woo hoo!  The picture was $10 extra, but we think it is worth it to stand out over all of the word-only ads.  This ad will be in our nearby newspaper, the Charlotte Observer, for the next 7 days, as well as on their website.

Now on to the outlying newspapers.  And possibly a few back home in NY!

Home study approved!

We are officially home study approved!  The home study report is in the mail now, should have our copy today or tomorrow.  Woo hoo!

One big step down.

I have started pricing out newspapers here and in NY, to see where we can get the best bang for our buck.  Our 'business cards' arrived yesterday too, and I'll be making some flyers this weekend to post on community bulletin boards.  Operation: Shock & Awe is in full force!

Just that short update for today.  Matt and I are going to spend the weekend indoors working on a cheap fix for our ugly white linoleom countertops, since it will be over 100 degrees each day.  Air conditioning?  Yes please!  Have a good weekend!

Fundraising

We have been considering our options for paying for everything, including the tax credit mentioned before, employer help (that's a no go), and possibly having a Garage Sale/Adoption fundraiser.  These are some techniques that other couples have used.  I have also seen people sell different things such as shirts, bracelets, crafts they've made, etc.  I don't know if that is 'us' though.

I just got introduced to a website called http://www.indiegogo.com/.  And I love it!  This site allows people to use the World Wide Web to reach out to people who may be interested in their cause.  The causes are widely varied: nonprofits, startup businesses, people looking for funding to make movies, other couples looking to adopt, and on and on.  One post that caught my eye was a nice elderly lady who was a bus monitor in Greece, NY.  She was being bullied by the very students that she was there to watch over, and one of the students videotaped the bullying.  Someone felt awful this happened to her, so they created a page to raise money to send her on a nice vacation (as her job did not pay enough for such splurges).  In less than 10 hours, the goal of $5000 was bypassed, and it is already over $100,000. What!!

We are not hoping for anything that extravagent.  And I am not posting it here so that anyone feels like that have to donate.  Just another documentation of what we are trying with the adoption process!  But here is the link to our page:

http://www.indiegogo.com/babykadoption?a=724475

We'll just put it out in the internet-universe, and see what happens!  Let's go viral!

EDITED TO ADD:  Just read that our fundraising page can be bumped to the site's main page by having lots of comments.  And more views equals more potential donors. So please consider leaving a comment of support!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!