home study: q&a
Q. What is an adoption home study?
Q. Who should complete our home study?
Q. When should we start the home study?
Q. Does a home study expire?
Q. What are reasons that we would need to update our home study prior to its expiration?
Q. What happens if I have a DUI or other criminal background?
Q. I have a medical condition. Will this prohibit me from getting a home study?
Q. I am single. Can I get a home study done through your agency?
Q. What are post placements/supervision visits?
Q. What is an adoption home study?
A. A home study is a basic overview of your family’s life, history and home. A home study is a review of you, your spouse and anyone else living in your home. It highlights items such as relationships and history, interactions with children, your childhood and your home and neighborhood. Initially, the home study process frightens some families until they actually complete one. With American Adoptions, our goal is to make the process both easy and relaxing. The home study allows the courts and our agency to determine if a stable environment exists for a family to receive an adoptive placement. Collecting documents for the home study can be time consuming. Items such as birth certificates and marriage license are required to confirm your identity. Since the home study can be the lengthiest piece of getting ready to adopt, it is recommended that you begin this process as soon as possible.
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Q. Who should complete our home study?
A. If you reside in a state where American Adoptions is licensed to complete home studies, American Adoptions can complete your home study and ensure that it is completed to the best standards. Under no circumstances should you allow just anyone to complete your home study. We work with families from across the United States and constantly see the difficulty they endure with home studies. Many pay hundreds of dollars more than they should have, while others are forced to have their home studies redone because of insufficient information. This is often due to the Home Study provider’s inexperience with requirements for states outside their own. American Adoptions works nationally; therefore we have discovered the best format for our home studies to prevent unnecessary complications.
It is important to note that many states, adoption agencies, and courts will only accept home studies from licensed adoption agencies. In those situations, if you have selected someone other than a licensed adoption agency to complete your home study, you may be required to have a qualified adoption agency perform another home study for you. This often means an increasing waiting period to receive your child and doubling your costs. The Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children (ICPC) accepts American Adoptions’ home studies across the United States. ICPC is each state’s general review of all adoption paperwork and supporting documents to make sure it is in proper order. It has been our experience that ICPC offices can deny or delay approval of the adoption due to the home study NOT being completed by a licensed child placing agency.
If you need assistance locating a licensed adoption agency in your state to complete your home study please contact 1-800-HOMESTUDY, visit
1-800-HOMESTUDY
or ask your Adoption Coordinator for assistance.
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Q. When should we start the home study?
A. You should begin your home study process as soon as you are ready to begin the adoption process. If you are using American Adoptions for your home study services, your home study will take an average of four to six weeks to be completed, depending on your state of residence. You should submit your Preliminary Application to American Adoptions and begin the steps of having your criminal and child abuse clearances processed around the same time, as these should occur parallel to each other.
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Q. Does a home study expire?
A. Yes a home study can expire. Every state mandates how long its home study is good for. However, regardless of your state’s policy on when a home study needs to be updated, your placement agency may have additional requirements. For example, American Adoptions requires home studies to be current within one calendar year. This means that a home study is good for 12 months and then will require an update. The reason American Adoptions has this strict policy on home study updates is because an adoptive family may reside in a state where their home study is good for 18 months, however, they may be matched with a birth mother whose state requires the home study to be updated every 12 months. This creates serious complications and delays through the adoption process and since most states require home studies to be updated yearly, American Adoptions finds it necessary to require yearly updates.
In addition to your annual update to your written home study, there are a few supporting documents, which require yearly renewal prior to their date of expiration. Your background clearances (child abuse, FBI and criminal clearances), physician health reports, and tax return must be updated annually.
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Q. What are reasons that we would need to update our home study prior to its expiration?
A. An update is a required addition to the home study in the event of any major life changes. Basically, any change in the information included in the text of your home study during your adoption process would require you to have a home study update completed. Examples are as follows: a change in your employment, moving into a new home, or a change in household members. The most common reason for a home study update is the annual renewal period. Home studies in most states require an annual update visit to your home. Updates are also necessary when a home study and/or clearances are expired.
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Q. What happens if I have a DUI or other criminal background?
A. If you have ever been arrested, it is likely that there is a record of the incident. Do not be worried that this will automatically prohibit you from getting an approved home study. This will, however, slow the home study process down. If we receive a “hit” on you or a member of your household the person with the record will be notified. They are required to obtain a dissemination report from the arresting City or County. Only the person with the hit can obtain this information. Due to confidentiality, American Adoptions can only discuss this with the person who has the record. In addition to the dissemination report additional documentation can be required depending on what the arrest record shows. For example, if you have been convicted of a DUI, we would ask for proof of completion of alcohol related counseling or education (many times mandated by the court), probation reports/probation discharge, sponsor letters and Judicial Orders of Compliance. You will also need to put in writing what the circumstances were surrounding that particular event in your life and what steps you have taken since then to ensure that this does not happen again.
American Adoptions “hit” policy is as follows: If during the course of your criminal and child abuse background screening process this office receives a “hit” on an applicant, the applicant will be notified by the main office. The applicant must then obtain a full disposition or full disclosure of the incident by the reporting entity. In addition, probation reports, court documents, counseling reports and evaluations will also be required. The home study procedure will be suspended until the requisite documents are received in our office. Those documents will be forwarded to your home study worker for full assessment. If an applicant declines to cooperate with this policy, the home study will be terminated and no refund of fees will be granted.
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Q. I have a medical condition. Will this prohibit me from getting a home study?
A. Medical conditions are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Most medical conditions are not prohibitive for an adoptive family as long as you are under the care of a physician. A current physician’s health form is a required supporting document. This informs us of any medical conditions that you may have and asks your Doctor if you have any medical or psychiatric problems that could affect your ability to be an adoptive parent. It also asks the Doctor, if based on their knowledge, you have a normal life expectancy. American Adoptions can request additional medical and/or psychiatric information as necessary to complete the home study.
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Q. I am single. Can I get a home study done through your agency?
A. You can be approved as a single adoptive parent. Your home study process will be exactly the same as a married couple. If you have a roommate who resides with you, that roommate will need to be interviewed and background checks performed, just like any other member of the household.
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Q. What are post placements/supervision visits?
A. Post-placement supervision visits are follow-ups to the home study. They occur after a child has been placed with you and consist of visits from a social worker to assess the current status of the child and adoptive parents. Examples of topics discussed are reaching developmental milestones, information from pediatrician visits, and how the child and other family members are adjusting. The number of visits will vary from state to state; however, most states require an average of three. The number of required post placements for your adoption is based on the state where your adoption will finalize (not necessarily where you live).
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