Babies Cant Wait

This is an FYI post for those new to adoption. If you already know about this program, disregard :)

In the state of Georgia, we have a program called BABIES CANT WAIT. Its an early intervention program that provides low cost/no cost therapy to children experiencing developmental delays due to illness or disability, babies born prematurely, orphanage delays, whatever. I set up an appointment with them for an evaluation of Amelia's development. I think she's doing great--dont panic--we're not experiencing any real problems. Since we got her on June 12, she has learned to sit up, roll both directions, army crawl, find a hidden toy, manipulate toys to make them play music, roll up to a sitting position, hold to furniture and stand, and eat! yes, she is now eating 2-6 ounce meals 3 times per day. we have cut the cereal completely out of her bottles. now its cereal, baby food, and yogurt at meals, and formula only in the bottles. we are so pleased with her progress and especially with her attachment so far. I say "so far" because attachment is a process that moves through stages. The goal: secure attachment. Babies dont "attach" immediatly. Amelia bonded with us immediatly, but this is NOT the same thing as attachment. True attachment takes effort and consistency OVER TIME.

Anyway, I digress! I called the program because it certainly wont hurt to know if there are areas in which we should do some extra work. I figure that even if they dont sign her up for therapy, they will at least teach us some exercises and play activities that we can do to bolster her progress and continue to build her strength, and they'll do it all in our home for low/or no cost. Its a win, win deal. here's the link in Georgia with contacts for each county :
http://babiescantwait.net/resources/

Other states have similar programs if you want to check it out.

The process in GA, is this: I called and set up a visit over the phone. The county nurse came out yesterday and asked me questions about Amelia's abilities and progress, and observed her playing. she also brought me a whole kit of safety tools and all kinds of info on development, nutrition, etc. She was here maybe a half hour. The next step is for a team of therapists to come out and do an intensive eval here at home. Then they'll give us their opinion on her developmental progress in various areas and put together a plan for therapists to come out and work on any areas where we need a boost. It will probably be a week or two before the eval, so it takes about a month to get rolling once you place the initial call. For those that have expressed an interest in setting up the appt. prior to bringing your child home, the nurse said that you can do the initial set up over the phone after referral, but prior to travel.

thats it! I'll let you know how it goes

Oh, and my friend (thanks Tricia) recommended a GREAT book. It called Baby Play and is marketed by Gymboree. I got it for about 7 bucks at Barnes and Nobles. It is filled with fun activities that you can do with baby, and it tells you which skills each activity works on. Its just a great book and I highly recommend it!