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A week and a half went by since John submitted his application for adoption when Michelle called to schedule a home visit. John and Michelle planned for the next day for Michelle to come over for a visit. John spent his day after work cleaning the house and the yard the best, he has ever cleaned his house. He knew Ashley would have been proud of his work. John called his supervisor to take the day off and it was approved without question. John was very well known in the department to rarely take days off, so he always had plenty of time to do so. At around midnight, John was pleased with his work and went to bed. The anxiety would cause him not to get too much sleep, but he had enough rest to be functional for the visit.
The next day, Michelle came to the house around noon. John ordered a pizza, and they ate it while Michelle evaluated the house. She was impressed by the cleanliness of the house and approved the evaluation with the hope that John would put a few more smoke detectors in the bedrooms, which John installed that day. He even sent Michelle pictures via email of the smoke detectors in the bedrooms. Michelle sent a reply to notify John that she would get back to him on the date of the training program.
After a couple of weeks of anxiously waiting, John received a call from Michelle about the upcoming training program that would start in three weeks. John hoped for something sooner but reminded himself that this process was not going to be short. John would share his experiences with Mike and Nancy, who continued to be incredibly supportive of John. John kept himself busy to pass the time.
Three weeks passed slowly for John, and he began the training program through DCF. He learned a lot in the several weeks of the course pertaining to how to work with children who are adopted, including the anxiety children are faced with when getting adopted and how to be a good parent for a child who is adopted. John also took his spare time to learn more about Down syndrome and other special needs. He met with professionals in the field to discuss different techniques for working with children with special needs. He even volunteered with the Special Olympics to gain more experiences working in the field. John felt he was ready to provide Janet with excellent care by the time the training program ended.
By the end of the training program, the social worker leading the group planned a home visit with John. The visit was successful, and he passed. John made it to the phase where DCF would review his case to decide if he was a good fit for adopting. Michelle even gave her supervisors a helpful review for him, telling them that he was the one who rescued Janet from the dumpster when she was a newborn, all the visits he had with her, his dedication to learning about Down syndrome, and his volunteering at the Special Olympics. John was very thankful for Michelle’s approval of him being a good fit for Janet.
Two months went by when John received a phone call from Michelle.
“Hi John. I wanted to let you know that you have been approved and given a license to adopt. Congratulations!” Michelle said excitingly.
“That is great news! What is the next step?” John asked.
“Well, the next step is you will receive everything you need in the mail. You will relate to an adoption worker to begin more visits with Janet outside of the foster home and then several visits within your home. I have already talked to the adoption worker assigned to your case about Janet. Her name is Mary, and she will be contacting you soon,” Michelle said.
“Thank you so much for helping me with this process. I do not know how to repay you,” John said.
“For starters, you can treat Janet like the princess that she is. Then we can talk,” Michelle said jokingly.
“Sounds good to me. Goodbye, Michelle,” John said.
“Goodbye, John. Congrats again!” Michelle said.
John hung up the phone and raised his hands in the air and screamed in excitement. Tears of joy came down John’s face and he called Nancy to tell her the great news. Nancy and John celebrated by ordering pizza and playing cards. John has not been this happy since Ashley told him she was pregnant all those years ago.
Mary, the adoption worker, called the next day to set up a meeting between Claire, John, and herself to discuss the visitation process and to set up a time visits outside the foster home. John chose the playground down the street from the foster home. On the days chosen over the course of a couple of weeks, John would meet Janet and Mary and they would play in the playground for a couple of hours. John could tell Janet was having a wonderful time.
After a couple of weeks, John had Mary and Janet came to his house for visits. John was so excited for Janet to come live with him that he painted her new room pink, just like the outfit she was wearing when he first met her. He also built a playground in the backyard, bought a bunch of toys, and bought clothes for her. When she first saw the bedroom, her eyes lit up with excitement and she hugged John. Mary was extremely impressed as well. During the home visits, they would play with her new toys and on the playground in the backyard. John was ready for her to permanently move in with him. He looked at Janet who was staring up at him and smiling.
“Janet, would you like to live here with me?” John asked hopefully.
“Yes, da!” Janet said as she hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.
John’s heart melted and he hugged her so tight. Mary was in the corner smiling and got a little emotional as she wiped a tear from her eye. She knew of the story between John and Janet as did everyone else at DCF. Mary smiled at John and nodded her head in approval. Mary and John then made a date for Janet to move in. The date that was planned also marked John’s six years of being sober, something he will always be thankful to Janet for.