All Those Service Providers

One thing we are required to do at this point in our adoption process is to identify and contact various people and organizations that we will likely need to turn to once our child is home.  I have been sending tons of emails and making many phone calls, trying to figure out who will be on our team of experts.

Here's who we have to locate:

Early Intervention (for if the child is under 3)
School Services (for a child over 3)
International Clinic
Pediatrician
Dentist
Therapist
Interpreters (this one will be fun to locate in El Paso!)
Family Respite

It seems they don't trust us to do this on our own, and they are definitely right!  The difficult part is that it cannot be just any dentist or pediatrician or therapist.  The child will not have average issues, so we have to make sure that the experts are indeed experts in the areas we will be facing.  I'm noticing that El Paso is not a big hub for international adoption.  That means we will have to find providers that are willing to learn or else we will have to travel to Albuquerque to find those who already have experience. 

The funny thing about making these calls is this:  we are having to ask questions about a child whose gender, age, history, medical and emotional issues, and time of arrival is not even close to being known.  Some of the people on the other end of the line think I am crazy.  They are used to making appointments to see someone now, not answering questions about a supposed child who may be here in a year.