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Expert Q&A

	By Christine Adamec Adoption Expert

What's an adoption homestudy?

If you're like most people who are new to adoption, the words "adoption homestudy" may well strike terror in your heart. Does someone really study your home before you can adopt? And if so, what are they looking for? I'll talk about the role that your home plays later in this answer. But first, I want to point out that although checking out your home environment is an important step in the homestudy, it's only one part of the entire process.

A homestudy, also known as a "family study," a "pre-assessment evaluation," and other names that social workers may give it, is an evaluation of your family's readiness and ability to parent a child. The good news is that agencies usually won't perform a homestudy on you unless they think that, based on the preliminary information you've already provided them, you sincerely want to adopt, you're financially able to support a child, you're healthy and there's a very good chance that you'll be approved to adopt.

So consider the homestudy as what it usually is: the major stepping-stone to your child's arriving home. In addition, if done well, the homestudy helps prepare you for parenting challenges that may lie ahead and makes you even more committed and eager to adopt than you were before you started the process.

Most States Require Home Studies
Nearly all states require a pre-placement homestudy, which means that you (and your spouse, if you're married) must be pre-approved to adopt a child before a child can be placed with you. It doesn't matter whether you adopt a child from the United States or another country or with the assistance of an agency or attorney. Most states still require that a homestudy be done before you may adopt a child.

Usually a social worker from an adoption agency performs your homestudy, although some state laws allow people to hire individual social workers to do the study.

Information You Provide and Checks the Social Worker Performs
There are several major aspects of the homestudy to keep in mind, including the information that you provide the social worker about yourself and also what he or she verifies or discovers about you in the course of doing some basic checking around. And, of course, there are those home visits (usually at least two of them).

Most social workers interview prospective adoptive parents about the reasons why they want to adopt a child and if they've thought about how an infant or child would change their lives. The social worker will also delve into whether you have any parenting experience or if you've ever worked with children. If you already have children, the social worker will want to meet them. She's not expecting to see television-perfect children, but hopefully they'll seem basically normal and happy.

If you're married, the social worker will want to know if both of you want to adopt. (Often one person is more eager than the other, but both should be interested and willing.)

You may be expected to write an essay or letter to a pregnant woman about why you want to adopt, although that's not always required. You may also be asked about your feelings about open adoption. "Open adoption" means many different things to different agencies. If you're asked about open adoption, be sure to ask the social worker what an open adoption is.

There's also a behind-the-scenes screening that occurs in the adoption homestudy. For example, the social worker will verify your earnings with your employer. You'll need to have a physical examination to make sure you're healthy enough to be a parent, and the social worker will want to see the doctor's findings. You'll be asked to provide names of people who would give you personal references. Most agencies run a criminal record check and also verify that you've never been accused of child abuse. Fingerprints are often required to make the criminal record check easier (and are always required in international adoptions). Other checks and inquiries may be made.

Back to Those Home Visits
As for the home visits that so many prospective adoptive parents worry about, they're made because the social worker wants to see you in your natural habitat to obtain clues of what kind of person you are. It's important to have a clean home but it need not be obsessively clean.

Social workers are usually interested in seeing if you have a plan for where the child you want to adopt will live. Do you have a bedroom available or a plan for a bedroom? Is there an area for a child to play outside?

The social worker will check if your home and yard seem safe. For example, if there's a huge pit in your backyard, fill that pit in before the home visit or have a plan for how it will be filled in before your child comes home. If you have a swimming pool, what child protections could you make? Walk around, both in and outside your house, looking for areas that may need changing. You don't have to actually make all changes by the time of the home visit, but you should have a plan for how you'll make them.

In Conclusion
Some agencies impose other requirements, such as pre-adoption classes you must attend or books about adoption that you should read. They may wish you to attend local adoptive parent support groups and may have other steps that need to be taken in the homestudy process.

The adoption homestudy can be nerve-wracking for many people, but nearly everyone comes through this process fine and often with a much better understanding of their own motives about adopting and a stronger readiness to parent. Even better is the ultimate reward for the homestudy: when your child arrives home.

To learn more about Christine Adamec and her books (which include more detailed information about homestudies), go to: http://iparenting.com/experts/bios/cadamec.php."

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