Adoption newbie with dumb question

sarahtoledo

Hi there!  I'm an oooold nestie but new to this board. 

MH and I are starting to learn about adoption.  We've ordered Adoption for Dummies and have looked into the foster/adopt training in our county.  They offer 6 full-day sessions on Saturdays this winter that we would like to attend.

The problem is that MH is a wedding photographer and can't make it to a couple of the sessions.  I wouldn't miss any, of course, but he would.  Would you guess that would be a dealbreaker?  

I already have a call in to the county office, I just wondered if anyone had a good guess for me.  

TIA 

JerseyGirlAtHeart

I know in my State, that you both have to be there. We each got to miss 2 meetings though. But we were doing once a week for like 15 weeks. Hope they can help you!

sarahtoledo

JerseyGirlAtHeart:

I know in my State, that you both have to be there. We each got to miss 2 meetings though. But we were doing once a week for like 15 weeks. Hope they can help you!

Thanks!  I really wish we had a once a week option.  It's either Tuesday/Thursday every week for six weeks, or six intense Saturdays.  

I also emailed the county .  I'm kind of excited.   

JanieJones

Hello!

In our course they had some classes where the material could be covered with DVDs and meeting with a social worker, but others didn't have the training DVDs and were mandatory.   Because of this, a couple from a  previous training session joined us to complete their classes because they had a conflict with the same class during their training session.

So, my roundabout answer is, it may or may not be a problem, but generally they are working to 'approve you' not 'fail' you, so they will try to accommodate you as much as possible.

Cissi64

I know this is no help but as PP said it kind of depends.  My DH missed a couple of sessions when we did it and he didn't have to make it up.  He did have to read some material and write a "report" on it though.  Ours was once a week for 10 weeks and we had "homework" anyway. One of the sessions he missed was "Panel Night" where they had foster parents, adoptive parents and social workers available to speak about their experiences and answer questions.  While it was very helpful and informative, this session wasn't vital for success as a foster parent so they didn't make him "make-up" that session.

honeybee72

Our experience was that the actual training classes were pretty informal. But that really reflects the approach of our agency more than the state requirements. The record of the training as well as the homework from each session was mandatory and had to be included in our file before we could be officially approved.

Every state, and county or licensed agency within that state, is going to be a little different in how they approach situations like yours. As someone else said, though, they want you to be approved. Background checks and the like are what will "fail" you, not training. The worst case (I would think) is that he would have to make up the training separately and your application process will be correspondingly longer.

come*on*baby

I was a wedding floral designer and we took our classes during JUNE!! You know, the busiest month for weddings! I actually only missed half of one class, but I spoke to the instructor prior to the class. Of course it was the most important class (learning restraints and de-escalation), but they were ok with it as long as DH was there.