Wednesday, October 9, 2013

i guess they think babies shouldn't get rabies?

In addition to doing the 'fun' stuff to prep for Ellison, like choosing fabrics, registering for nonsense, and daydreaming about all that luxurious free time I'll have during maternity leave, we're also working hard on completing our home study. Due to a variety of factors (key among them- we're not using an agency), our home study is way way way less intense/expensive/drawn-out than the 'typical' (or maybe 'stereotypical' is more accurate) adoption home study. We basically have to gather a whole bunch of documentation, including fingerprinting and background checks, and once it's all together we'll meet with our home study social worker (in our home, duh) and spend a few hours going over everything...and then that's pretty much it. I'm extremely thankful that it won't be the traumatizing experience many home studies seem to be. However, we're still having to come up with a bunch of documentation that's taking some time. And as low-key as this home study is...even STILL I find myself rolling my eyes that we have to do all of this to prove we're fit to be parents. Some people get accidentally knocked up in the back of a Jeep at age 15. Some people have to get signed affidavits from their doctors, employers, personal references, veterinarians, and neighbors, plus provide eleven pieces of documentation regarding every single piece of money they've ever earned/spent. I'll let you guess which group I fall in. Ha.

Most of the stuff is really easy to gather-- copies of our driver's licenses, recent utility bills, pay stubs, W-2s, marriage license, and health insurance cards. Some of it is moderately annoying, such as having our bosses write up statements about how long we've been employed and how much we make, filling out the federal background check and fingerprinting forms (and going to get them done), and getting physicals (and having the doctor write up statements that we are in adequate physical/mental health to raise a child), and stuff like that. Then there are a few things that are totally hilarious to me, chief among them being the requirement that we provide proof of rabies vaccination for all pets.

I know that shouldn't be hard. But what if-- not that this would ever happen to ME, of course...just checking for a friend...-- well, say someone had a 10-year-old outside cat. Say this cat had lived outside for a long, long, long time. Now, the cat is certainly FRIENDLY and is known to greet visitors and homeowners with enthusiastic meows and rubbing up against ankles...but like, it's an old outside (neutered, don't get me wrong- my friend isn't a total savage) cat. This cat does not get picked up, placed in cars, and driven to vets. It just doesn't. This cat is thankful for his daily meal on the porch and a glider to rest his weary bones on. He kills mice in exchange for a sheltered spot (inside a pet carrier) to hide from the rain sometimes. This cat is not up-to-date on shots, trust me. Kitty doesn't care about having shots. Don't nobody have time for that.

Buuuuut now say the caregivers of said cat were interested in adopting a child. NOW all of a sudden they need to provide documentation of a rabies shot. Well...what the heck. Those people have two options: Lie about it. Either hide the cat (and evidence of it) away and pretend it doesn't exist, or borrow a friend's cat-rabies-shot-documentation and pretend it's their own. That's kind of a crappy option, really. Lying on a home study seems like a crappy way to get started with parenthood, right? So there was really only one choice: capture the cat and go get a stupid shot.


Alright, so maybe this is actually a story about US and it IS our cat that has been shamefully non-rabies-vaccinated for the last 7 years or so. NO LONGER, my friends. NO LONGER. As of yesterday afternoon, Aidan is 100% vaccinated against the dreaded rabies and now we are one step closer to being fit parents. You can all breathe easy. It was quite a little adventure...first we had to FIND the silly cat, who spends his day in the woods...and catch him...and put him in a cage...and as you can probably imagine, he was NOT a fan of that whole ordeal. Sadly, I had to stay home and put a second coat of paint on the bookshelves so Matt had the joy of doing the vet visit by himself. I had visions of Matt and the vet having their eyes mauled out once the semi-feral cat was released from the cage, but apparently things went better than expected and everyone survived. I guess even Aidan sensed the importance of behaving well so that his sister can come home soon. 

So now we have the glorious Rabies Vaccination documentation and can check another item off our 'things to do/collect for home study' list. Luckily we're not 100% terrible at being pet parents-- Lola actually DOES go to the vet every year, so her shots are already legitimately up-to-date. Yay for that. One less thing to deal with now.

This was not actually the extent of our pet adventures yesterday, but it's all I have time for for now. Perhaps tomorrow I will share my newly-patented educational course: Preparing Your Dog for a Baby that Cries a Lot 101. Spoiler: it was a huge success.

22 comments:

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  2. I would love to hear more about the differences between adopting through an agency versus privately. Intriguing!

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  3. I'm jealous of your home study experience!! We were also not using an adoption agency when we did our home study. We were going to be adopting from Colombia directly through our Ministry of Social Services to theirs - no middle man, and STILL had to undergo the stereotypical homestudy.

    I'm glad everything is moving forward, isn't that such an exciting feeling?

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  4. Poor kitty! But, I am sure he was happy to go through a car ride and shot for his human family. :)

    If it makes you feel better, we have 2 indoor kitties who go to the vet, like, every 3-5 years...

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  5. I'm glad the experience went better than expected for Aidan!! Every baby related post just makes me so excited for you!

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  6. Bah... I wonder how often these home study people see paperwork dated within the last few weeks... "yep, he goes to the vet every year, he was just due six days before you came... it's ironic really". Glad everybody's got tags to prove their worth! Adoption paperwork sounds like a blast!

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  7. Nice that you didn't have to go with Matt! And glad the home study is less intense - we had some close friends adopt a little boy a couple of years ago through an agency, and I remember them having to completely childproof their house in advance... as if the newborn/infant was going to get up and walk around to stick his fingers in electrical outlets and such.

    P.S. My word verification is Holady. Just had to share.

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  8. My guess is that Aidan was probably in shock which is why it all went well :)

    Yay for getting another (non-exciting) item checked off the Bring Ellison Home list :)

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  9. Ugh, I hate all the hoop jumping. But once it's over, what an accomplishment, huh?! Totally annoying that people accidentally get knocked up and others have to go through all this crap to adopt a baby. I think you made the right choice, getting your cat vaccinated. ;) But - how annoying!!! Do your pets have to be present during the home visit? I have a ... ahem ... "friend" whose dog is the sweetest thing ever, though very big and loud and protective. So, do the pets have to be there and behave perfectly? ;)

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    1. Girl, why can't I find your email address to reply to you?!?! Maybe you'll see this. Ummm...I was thinking the same thing. My (FULLY VACCINATED) dog is extremely EXUBERANT when strangers come to visit. I wouldn't mind locking her in a room or like...letting her visit Grandma for the night. Not sure if that would be even fishier, though? Like...her dog is so scary she doesn't even have it home while I'm here? Ha! Who knows.

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    2. Ha. Well.. our two year old had a complete and total meltdown with our social worker sitting on our couch. I hauled her upstairs and put her to bed.

      Homestudy workers are looking for safety not perfection. ;)

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  10. So glad Aidan was a cooperative Kitty... he obviously really wants to be a good Big brother.

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  11. I literally lol'd at your "luxurious free time" comment. Do you remember how J made a list of things to do around the house when H was born and he was home for a week? Yeah. Not one thing got done. So be prepared for that. (Though he did accomplish some stuff when E was born - don't know if that's about being second time parents or just baby's personality.)

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  12. I love that your cat's name is Aidan!

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  13. sounds like y'all are being so productive!!! Checking off that list ;)

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  14. So my homestudy experience was so not traumatizing. Although I did laugh at the same things. We had to hunt down our rabies records, we have to have a box checked saying that we had no contagious diseases and were healthy enough to be parents (my doctor got a kick out of that one... seeing as I already had children!) Each of our children had to have the same form done saying they weren't contagious.

    We didn't have to substantiate how long Brandon had worked for his company or his income (We used tax documents for that I suppose) and we didn't have to show utility records either.

    So funny how the processes are different in certain things. Oh and we had three one hour meetings for our homestudy the first time, but only 2, one hour appointments the second time.

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  15. I picture Aidan running from Matt with fear in his eyes thinking...what the heck I just want food! At least you don't have to give it any thought for a long time and he's safe to be near Ellison. By the way...I love seeing her name on your blog :-)

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  16. You know how little girls dream about picking out wedding dresses when they get married? I bet they also dream about getting their outdoor cats vaccinated when they have babies. All very natural steps in life's milestones.

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    1. HA! The natural steps in life's milestones comment!

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  17. That is kind of ridiculous... all the things you have to do to get a baby when teens get knocked up so easily & it's just fine! Geez. But i am glad the cat didn't claw anyone's eyes out. :) Geez! Poor thing probably didn't know what was happening! WHERE ARE THE HUMANS TAKING ME?! LOL.

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE her name. Ellison. It's beautiful! :)

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  18. We had to do the same thing....crazy hoops to jump through to adopt a baby!!!

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