[aclee]

Originally Posted by kittymom

Our home visit is in one week, and I'm starting to panic! We live in a 100+ year old house, so it's not perfect. It has peeling paint in spots and needs a gutter replaced and so on and so on ...

Last week my DH was off work for the whole week, so we got one important project finished and two projects to the "acceptable" stage. I was so proud of how much we got accomplished, but now ... now that our home visit is happening in ONE WEEK, all the remaining projects and clutter and imperfections are glaring and hideous. We also need to add more smoke alarms, get a fire extinguisher, relocate all the power tools out of the reach of kiddies, etc. How can we possible get this place ready in just one week???

I know social workers aren't looking for perfection. They just want to know there's room for a child and that it's safe for a child, right? But I'm scared there's something I'm not seeing. I'm worried that what feels to us like a warm, inviting house will seem like a deathtrap to someone not used to old houses.

What stuff do you think is the most important to concentrate on in the time we have left? The exterior makes the first impression, but the SW will spend the most time inside the house (as will the baby). Our bedroom is adjacent to the baby's - will the SW want to see it? Does it matter if the baby's room still has extraneous clutter in it, or will that make it look like we aren't making room in our lives for a child? Will they want to see the laundry room? The office? The guest bedroom?

Has anyone had a SW tell you you have to fix something and then they come back for a second visit? Has anyone had a home visit during the middle of a renovation?

Are you going through the state? We did a domestic adoption and they never once asked about a fire extinguisor or smoke detectors that I can recall...maybe the smoke detectors, but she didn't ask to see them or anything...

Our house was FAR from perfect. We live in a house built in the 1850's. We are gutting it room by room and rebuilding. We didn't even (and still don't) have a bedroom done for Tyler yet. Our bedroom was "done", the living room was "done", everything worked in the veryoutdated kitchen and bathroom... "done" means it functions...not fancies like trim or floor boards! It was clean and respectable, but not a palace to be sure. We made sure that we showed our personality and we also showed her some of the picture of how much we had done just for fun. She loved our little house! Didn't have one problem with it at all. If you have a place for the baby to sleep, and a safe place for them to be cozy, and play, you are fine