Is it odd?

All of the agencies I've contacted over the last 3 years have a definitive application process.

You fill out a huge form and pay them money. This can be done before or after your home study, but there's always a separate form.

Then they have you do that whole big profile thing - maybe make a scrapbook or something, provide pictures of yourselves and your family, your home, your pets, etc ...

So even though we're not ready to meet with our homestudy agent yet (Patrick still hasn't touched his paperwork, we still need to fill out the financial sheet and still need our local background checks, and the pets still need to be re-upped on their shots (it's that time anyway)), I thought I'd at least get that process with the agency started.

That application process. Where you fill out this huge form and pay them money and start the big profile maybe scrapbook thingy.

I e-mailed the contact person at the agency asking to have the form(s) sent to us.

Here's her reply:

"So & so does not have an application for you to fill out. We work with Mary, so when your home study and profile are complete you are ready to go. If a birthmother wants to look at profiles, we just call her with the information. Mary then gives us the profiles that best fits what the birthmother is looking for. Hope this is helpful."

Wha??

No separate application? No scrapbook thingy?

I mean - the homestudy agent never mentioned any of those things, the profile maybe scrapbook thingies. So I figured we would do the home study through her and then everything else through the agency.

This makes me nervous.

I've only heard very positive things about the agency we're using and all of their home studies go through this same person. So it leads to say that the agent herself is wonderful. And please know I have no reason think otherwise.

But ... I don't know ... it seems then that I should be extra worried about what she'll think of us, of our home. Because it won't be like she'll write up the home study paperwork and then pass the final evaluation to the agency and they then go the route of contacting and matching us with a birth mother.

It'll be up to the agent to provide them with the profiles of who she thinks best matches the birthmother's request.

Which is ok, I'm sure. But ... what if we piss her off? What if we rub her the wrong way? What if we end up being a couple that she just doesn't click with??

I'm sure I'm reading too much into it, worrying too much per usual.

But has anyone else had a similar experience where the home study agent is the one picking the profiles rather than the agency itself?