I started writing this around midnight the day before, but by the end here I will have completed my 2 hour long psychological evaluation which is needed for our home study. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, but in fact I am terrified. The last psychologist I talked to was back in 2008 as a part of the interview process for a sales position.
This is a little different, but I think I got about the same amount of sleep.
I wonder how much detail I need to give in my “life story,” and if I will even be able to talk through it – especially the rough areas. I guess a little part of me is afraid that I might say something or answer something in the questionnaire giving the psychologist reason to believe I am actually, in fact crazy. More so than my 15 year old thinks when I’m whipping and nae nae-ing in front of a bunch of her friends, or when we bust out in a random dance party at home. Will I have to sit in a chair or do I start right off laying on the couch? What if the chair is just some hard-wooden chair? Man, I hope it’s at least comfy… 2 hours in an uncomfortable chair telling a complete stranger your “life story” or even answering questions does not sound fun. I’d better get some sleep.
Ok, I’m up.
I got ready for the day, and blasted… we’re out of coffee. This might be a good thing because when I’m caffeinated I tend to ramble. A lot.
The place we chose for our psych evals is called Summit Counseling, which is not too far from us so the drive was easy. I entered the building, met the psychologist, and we were off.
About an hour in, after telling my entire life story and after being asked questions related to the adoption, I was handed a an iPad that had 2 different questionnaires totaling around 500 questions which took maybe about 40 min. to complete. It was multiple choice, so it was easy enough to breeze through it but I had to be careful on some of the duplicate questions because I could have easily answered them incorrectly. After completing these tests on the iPad, she asked me a few more questions including if I had a template or if she was going to receive one from our agency for her to fill out. These templates ensure the correct questions are asked and answered, as well as it makes sure our evaluation is written to meet the needs in our dossier for Costa Rica. I didn’t have a form or template on the spot and nothing was sent to her.
Crap.
When I got home I immediately called Lifeline to ask about a template or form for our psychologist, as it turns out it was emailed out to us a month ago, but we completely overlooked it. Our case worker was so polite about it all, she sent it over to us again as well as copied our psychologist. I read the template over again, to see if we may have missed something.
In the case that the perspective adoptive parents have children, ask the child how they are feeling about the adoption (the child is interviewed)
IMPORTANT
Double Crap.
We completely overlooked this part, and when we were talking to our employers about assistance with this part of the process we were able to get some financial help, but it was based on only 2 people being evaluated and not the entire family. I called Summit, asked them if we could schedule the kids appointments as well as find out what fees were involved so we could plan accordingly. I figured we would have to come up with additional funds to cover 3 separate appointments, and at $330 each it would go well over the $1,000 given to us. We talked about the template a little bit, and decided I need to go back to finish some of the questions included within, so they went ahead and bundled my follow up interview along with our children’s interview. Since our children and I are being bundled for a third interview instead of 3 separate ones, the total amount including a $20 processing fee comes to $1,010, which means only $10 out of pocket.
Phew!
If you couldn’t follow me there, basically what had happened is the amount of our employee assistance covered all but $10 of our interviews, which is a huge blessing in and of itself. All of the craps I had to give, were for naught. Sometimes I forget to trust, but am quickly reminded on why I should.
