Pre-adoption support group So a few weeks ago we got an E-Mail from our adoption agency inviting us to a new waiting parents support group that they were starting up. So we signed up. We are BIG fans of our agency and were excited to see what the group would be like. Because this is a private group we will not mention here about anything said for confidentiality reasons. But we will blog about our experience, which was a pretty positive one. Out of the whole group, we have the oldest home study and it seems that we have also been actively processing this for a lot longer than some of the other members. Most of our fellow members are just starting their active adoption journey, which was a real shock to us. As the meeting started and we all started to talk and share, it seemed like we all were a bit tight lipped on details. There was also a weird vibe in the air. Everything was discussed with broad strokes. You have to understand that the group itself is made up of other families that could be competing for the same kido. We don’t feel anyone in the room feels hostility to anyone else, but there was a weird self protective vibe. But by the end of the meeting as everyone got more comfortable talking the vibe was a bit more normal, if there can even be such a thing. Since were were the old farts in the room we actually felt a ton better since we mentally got to say to ourselves, “Been there, done that.” FAS Workshop This past weekend we completed a 3 day FAS / FAE (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome / Fetal Alcohol Effect) workshop. The Workshop was hosted by FASCETS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Consultation, Education and Training Services). The funny thing was it was held at the Mark Spencer hotel. A hotel both of us know well from our work with the ISRC. It was a bit weird spending 3 days in the coronation hospitality room. It was also a bit weird to discuss alcohol and it’s effects then step outside and see Boxxes/Redcap & Scandals and the Roxy. The workshop was a very detailed course and we feel a must for anyone who will be working with children. The numbers of kids born with FASE is crazy and the training was invaluable. The course gave us a new understanding and way of looking at some of the kidos we have been submitting our home study on. We were the only pre-adoptive family in the workshop. About half of our classmates are parents of children with FAS or FASE. The remainder of our classmates where teachers and child care professionals. We also had one Lawyer and one legal advocate. Thanks to the class diversity, we had several interesting class conversations. It made for some very interesting discussions and we feel it gave us some better tools in our parenting box.