Climb Aboard the Adoption Roller Coaster!
Last week was supposed to be the week that our dossier was registered in Moscow. Unfortunately, we received word last Wednesday that the Moscow City region had temporarily closed. This closure was in response to a little Russian boy that was killed while in the care of his adoptive mother a couple weeks ago.
On Friday, a new adoption friend, Jules, emailed me that Moscow City didn't really close and that perhaps things would start moving again this week. Our agency's director in Moscow plans on stopping by the Ministry of Education offices to discuss what new requirements might be implemented in response to this tragedy.
One of the requirements that will be enforced is that everyone will be required to have oodles of educational hours. We were able to send off a document from our social worker that outlined our 20+ hours of adoption education. Check.
Another requirement may be to have a psychological evaluation done prior to our court date. People have posted having to do personality and ink blot tests to pass their psych exams. Ink blot tests? Didn't that go out of style when Dr. Freud died? Surely we must've found a better way to diagnose issues than staring at an ink mess on a paper and saying what you think it is. What if I don't see anything? What if everything looks like some sort of insect? Or butterfly? "Hmmm .. that looks like a monarch. That looks like a gypsy moth. Ooh . . that's definitely a luna moth." Will I be counted down for a lack of creativity and limited perspective??? We've read that we shouldn't respond with dark or scary ideas like "it looks like Satan eating a baby's brain" (we didn't make this up, this is actually written on a site that tries to explain the ink blot test). It's good to know that this is not a good answer as I don't think I would've been capable of seeing that in the ink blots.
The other test that is given frequently is the MMPI or MMPI-2 which is considered the leading personality test. There are 567 questions and it takes a couple of hours to complete. By the end I probably won't know what I'm thinking. Perhaps that's part of the challenge. One of the questions asked is "You want to be a singer - true or false"? Hmmm ... are they talking about when no one's in the car, with the radio cranked up on a sunny day? If I say that at times I want to be a singer does that mean I suffer from delusions of grandeur?? And, if these are the type of questions and there are 567 of them, how on Earth will I score?? Oh ... and the cost to take this fabulous, insightful test?? $450 a piece!
And, as if my paranoia wasn't substancial enough over these random tests, you might imagine how much Nathan is looking forward to sitting with a complete stranger and answering personal questions for hours. Nathan barely enjoys talking to people that he knows. And, if he says very little or worse yet, nothing at all, does that mean that he's hiding something?
So ... we're awaiting the requirements for our psych exam. Should be interesting I suppose .. but hopefully not TOO interesting.
On a positive note, last night we received a call from Lorien (our agency's director) and she told us that the director in Moscow has a little girl in mind for us and is working to get us travel dates by the end of April (yes, April this year). Wow. After our roller coaster ride getting to Sasha, we're just not emotionally on board that this will actually happen this quickly. Perhaps I won't believe it until we're sipping our celebratory champagne at O'Hare prior to our flight's departure. It's just moving so fast, it's hard to believe that it's real.
Hopefully our dossier will get registered next week and we'll know more specifics about our first trip to meet our daughter.
On Friday, a new adoption friend, Jules, emailed me that Moscow City didn't really close and that perhaps things would start moving again this week. Our agency's director in Moscow plans on stopping by the Ministry of Education offices to discuss what new requirements might be implemented in response to this tragedy.
One of the requirements that will be enforced is that everyone will be required to have oodles of educational hours. We were able to send off a document from our social worker that outlined our 20+ hours of adoption education. Check.
Another requirement may be to have a psychological evaluation done prior to our court date. People have posted having to do personality and ink blot tests to pass their psych exams. Ink blot tests? Didn't that go out of style when Dr. Freud died? Surely we must've found a better way to diagnose issues than staring at an ink mess on a paper and saying what you think it is. What if I don't see anything? What if everything looks like some sort of insect? Or butterfly? "Hmmm .. that looks like a monarch. That looks like a gypsy moth. Ooh . . that's definitely a luna moth." Will I be counted down for a lack of creativity and limited perspective??? We've read that we shouldn't respond with dark or scary ideas like "it looks like Satan eating a baby's brain" (we didn't make this up, this is actually written on a site that tries to explain the ink blot test). It's good to know that this is not a good answer as I don't think I would've been capable of seeing that in the ink blots.
The other test that is given frequently is the MMPI or MMPI-2 which is considered the leading personality test. There are 567 questions and it takes a couple of hours to complete. By the end I probably won't know what I'm thinking. Perhaps that's part of the challenge. One of the questions asked is "You want to be a singer - true or false"? Hmmm ... are they talking about when no one's in the car, with the radio cranked up on a sunny day? If I say that at times I want to be a singer does that mean I suffer from delusions of grandeur?? And, if these are the type of questions and there are 567 of them, how on Earth will I score?? Oh ... and the cost to take this fabulous, insightful test?? $450 a piece!
And, as if my paranoia wasn't substancial enough over these random tests, you might imagine how much Nathan is looking forward to sitting with a complete stranger and answering personal questions for hours. Nathan barely enjoys talking to people that he knows. And, if he says very little or worse yet, nothing at all, does that mean that he's hiding something?
So ... we're awaiting the requirements for our psych exam. Should be interesting I suppose .. but hopefully not TOO interesting.
On a positive note, last night we received a call from Lorien (our agency's director) and she told us that the director in Moscow has a little girl in mind for us and is working to get us travel dates by the end of April (yes, April this year). Wow. After our roller coaster ride getting to Sasha, we're just not emotionally on board that this will actually happen this quickly. Perhaps I won't believe it until we're sipping our celebratory champagne at O'Hare prior to our flight's departure. It's just moving so fast, it's hard to believe that it's real.
Hopefully our dossier will get registered next week and we'll know more specifics about our first trip to meet our daughter.
posted by Tamara at 8:51 AM
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