Laid Off

Well, I think I'm ready to blog about it now. Thanks for all the kind words in the comments of my last post.

The last week of July the executive director and my supervisor called me into the conference room and told me that the adoption agency was closing down. They asked me to cancel my vacation to Washington because they would need me here when they told all the families in process. I asked them if they would be paying out unpaid vacation time and they said probably not (they did end up paying it). I told them that I was going then. They told me they didn't know if I would have a job to come back to. They also told me to keep it a secret for a few days until they could let the other employees know. That was a hard secret to keep. Everyone, including me, had been speculating as to what was going on. Now, I knew and had to keep it quiet that we were all losing our jobs. That was on Tuesday. On Friday, Aug 1, they let the entire company know. I left for Washington that night. I got back on Aug 11 and my last day was Aug 15.

There are many reasons why they decided to close down and I'm sure that I don't know all of them, but mostly for these reasons 1) Didn't get our Hague accreditation 2) Falling dollar against foreign currency 3) Falling economy and the cost to operate was more than the money left owing from in process families.

I'm really disappointed that they let it get so out of control before they decided to close. Many contract employees are not getting paid as well as many of the bills that they should be paying. The Internet adoption sites are being really harsh and I'm perceived as guilty because I'm associated with it. I've been called horrible names on the Internet by one family. That hurt most of all. I know families are upset and I don't blame them. I just feel bad that they think I had anything to do with the financial decisions of the company. I always tried to be honest and fair. Adoption, however, has emotions and money involved and that's always a volatile combination. All the families in process, except for a small few, will be able to be transferred to other agencies with minimul interuption to their process. Some with no additional costs at all. They are still licensed for now, so they will be trying to finish up a few families without transferring them.

I've had a hard time with this. However, at convention I got so much clarity and realized that this is the best thing for me. Why even doubt what is out of my control. I cannot tell you enough that the vacation was meant to be to get me out of that mess. When I got back, the last four days of work were torture. I had 43 messages on my voicemail of upset people wanting to speak to me. Not fun. Cleaning out my desk after 9 years and then saying goodbye to my dear co-workers. The weekend was very hard.

Well, time to let go. After 9 years of a huge amount of stress its time for a break. Now, I'm what they call a 'housewife'. hmm. Domesticity has never been my strong point. So, I made dinner tonight. Didn't turn out exactly like I wanted but Jim ordered stroganogh so that is what he got.

I'll be looking for a new job but I need a break first. I am getting ready to look for a job. The resume is updated and ready to go when the right job comes along. I'm in no hurry. But I will miss the wacky world of International Adoption where every day is a new drama. Ooooh. By the way, I have one client left. She refused to leave me and the boss said I could keep her if I wanted. So, her Russia adoption is almost done and she will be my last adoption.

So be prepared for lots of pictures coming up. I get to focus on my favorite hobby, photography.