What is a home study?

A home study is a review of you, your spouse and anyone else living in your home. A home study is required for almost every adoption. It highlights items such as relationships, interactions with children, your neighborhood and your childhood. Initially, the home study process frightens some families until they actually complete one. The home study helps the courts and the adoption professional completing the adoption determine if a stable environment exists for a family to receive an adoptive placement. Collecting all the documents for the home study can be time consuming. Items such as a marriage license and birth certificates are required to legally confirm your identity. Additional documents will likely be needed by the home study professional as well.

Who can complete my home study?

Under no circumstances should you allow just anyone to complete your home study. Many pay hundreds of dollars more than they should have, while others are forced to have their home studies redone because of insufficient information. It is important to note that many states, adoption agencies and courts will accept home studies from licensed adoption professionals ONLY. In those situations, if you have selected someone other than a licensed professional to complete your home study, you may be required to have a qualified professional to perform another home study for you. That means increasing the wait to receive your child and doubling your costs. You must choose an adoption professional who is licensed in your state to complete your home study. Some states within the United States and most international adoptions require a home study be completed by a licensed adoption agency.

You may also contact 1-800-HOMESTUDY which can provide you with a list of qualified home study professionals in your area. You can reach them by visiting www.1-800-homestudy.com or by calling 1-800-HOMESTUDY (1-800-466-3788).

What other services should I inquire about with my home study professional?

Post-placement services:

Post-placement supervision visits are follow-ups to the home study. They consist of visits from a social worker to assess the status of the child and how the adoptive parents are adjusting. These post placements will focus on the child's health and integration into the family. Once the adoption is finalized, post placement services are not needed. Once a child is placed in your home, your home study professional or the agency that completed the placement will complete the required number of post-placement visits (varies from state to state and by country).

Home study updates:

In most states, the home study is only good for 12 months and in some states for just six months before it must be updated. Updates are also needed if a family moves homes, changes jobs or adds family members to their home. Updating the home study is naturally much less intrusive unless there are new issues which are a cause for concern.

Domestic vs. international home studies:

Home studies for domestic and international adoptions are typically completely different from one another. This is because most international countries have particular demands, requirements and specific phrasing that is required in your home study to appease a particular country's government. It is important to understand that each country often has slightly different demands. Due to different international home study demands, some home study professionals do not perform international home studies. It is important to determine a home study professional's international home study experience, because good experience can make the home study process more efficient and ultimately less frustrating for you.

What is the cost for a home study?

It is important to inquire about each adoption professional's cost of the home study, post placements and any necessary updates that might be required. Costs differ greatly depending on the state you live in and which type of home study you require. Typically, international home studies will have a higher cost due to the additional requirements necessary to be completed by the home study professional. Although it is important to inquire about the cost, it should not be the only factor you take into consideration when choosing a professional to complete your home study. Take into consideration the professional's ability to complete the home study in a timely fashion, their knowledge about the specific type of home study you need for your adoption choice (i.e. domestic or international) and also their credentials. When inquiring about the amount of time my home study process will take, is there anything specific I should ask? You should decide if time is an important factor when choosing a home study professional. Some professionals process home studies very slowly and therefore your wait can be lengthy. There are essentially a few things to consider that can affect the speed at which a home study can be completed and you should inquire more in depth about each process when receiving an estimated time frame for the home study process.

Interview(s):

Some agencies do not set up interviews very efficiently and will consider the start date to the time frame they provide to you to begin the day your interview takes place. You might ask them how quickly they can send a professional to your home to begin the interview process and more specifically, if their time frame starts at the time you provide your application to them for the home study or at a later date, such as the day the interview takes place. Adoption professionals who are not able to provide you a specific response to these questions could potentially be very slow at the completion process.

Records checks:

While it varies from state to state, most states require police records and child abuse registry checks. Until the record checks are returned, a home study cannot be completed. You should ask local home study professionals how long it typically takes for records checks to be returned to them in their state and also, if this time frame has been factored into their overall time frame provided to you for the entire home study process.

Writing of the home study:

This process varies significantly with home study professionals. Many times records checks are returned and interviews have been completed, but slower professionals can delay the writing of the home study weeks and even months. It's best to ask for references from the home study professional to get a better idea about their ability to produce the home study by completing the writing process.

Is there anything I could do that could slow down my home study process?

Yes. The best thing you can do to allow your home study process to go as quickly as possible it to make yourselves available for the interview process as soon as the home study professional can make an appointment. Another thing you can do to allow for a speedier process is to obtain all supporting documents for your home study professional as soon as possible. If your home study process will require references from friends and family members, it's best to tell your friends and family members in advance and to seek their urgent response on the references. Also, if a physician reference is necessary, it's best to obtain an appointment with your physician as soon as possible. Inquire with your home study professional to find out additional ways you can control the speediness of your home study process.