Finishing Hague courses

In order to adopt internationally, couples must complete 10 hours of adoption related classes. The Hague treaty which oversees international adoptions requires specific topics that are unique to international adoptions. Things like attachment issues, medical considerations, grief/loss, multicultural families, etc... These topics have been very helpful to us as we prepare to bring home our daughter.

Since we were only able to complete half of our Hague required adoption classes last January, we were still 4 credits short of our required classes. We took 6 credits last January and are required to take 10 total. Our local agency has not scheduled any more trainings since January because there were not enough families needing these classes to justify holding the trainings, so we were starting to get nervous about completing the last credits. We cannot accept a referral without these classes being completed. However, Spence-Chapin recommended taking the remaining credits online with a great online resource called Adoption Learning Partners. We could move through the class at our own speed and in the comfort of our own home instead of having to travel somewhere.

We just finished our first class called "Conspicuous Families" and it was great! It was all about becoming a conspicuous family- a family that stands out. Since our daughter will not look like us, we will attract more attention than a typical family. This will be harder for her since it will always put the spotlight on her. This course taught us ways that we can confront comments and questions from people, how to embrace some of her culture, and ways to help her fit in with our predominately Caucasian culture and community. Even though our daughter will be foremost American, she will also always be Korean. We learned ways as a family that we can help her embrace her culture and heritage.

Well... off to finish another class! One down, two more to go!