And There is No Clearance Section

I am a shop-a-holic but there are two types of shopping I don't enjoy: grocery shopping and kid shopping.  I spent some time today, for lack of a better term, kid shopping.  Hubby and I have fulfilled all of our requirements, passed all of our tests and jumped through all of the hoops to complete our homestudy for adoption.  All we need now is the coveted seal of approval from our case worker's supervisor.  Once we get that, we are to give a list of children that we are interested in to our case worker.  This is where the kid shopping comes in.  I know that it sounds horrible, but that's basically what you are doing.  You get a wallet size picture and a few lines of type at an on-line site.  A child's whole life is based off of this little picture (often not the most flattering) and how good their case worker is at marketing them.  How are we supposed to say yes or no to a child based on this minimal information?  I feel like we would get more details if we were adopting a dog at the pound.  I definitely get more information about products I buy at the store and you can return them if you want.  You can't . . . well, I couldn't return a child.  (Apparently, there are some people who do!)  Of course, once we initiate the inquiry, we will most likely get more information, but you have to base your initial request off of the short blurb and a photo.  I almost wish they didn't have the photo.  That way you would base your pursuit of a child on their small biography and not on how visually appealing they are.  No matter how much anyone tries to deny it and no matter how good your intentions, the way they look in that picture does play a part in the decision.  I hate to think that we may miss the right child for us because she had a bad hair day and didn't take a good photo.  Too bad our case worker can't send out our homestudy to all of the children that meet our gender and age requirements.  Then the girl who is meant to be ours won't fall through the cracks.  I guess I'm just scared that as I kid shop, I will overlook her.  I like to shop but this just feels wrong.