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Terrellee-
Try looking up some local agencies in the phone book of your hometown. I found that many agencies here will do a homestudy for a fee (all the one's in Birmingham range from $900-$1200, depending on the agency) as a service seperate from using them as an "agency." I believe a homestudy just has to be done by a liscenced social worker. I called Catholic Family Services and the Children's Aid Society and both were helpful in offering homestudy advice and estimates on time and cost based on their own services. I also called the local DHS (the foster care people at the state level), who I was sure could provide services or info, but they never called me back (I guess they are really busy).
I was advised through a national agency, however, that different states have different homestudy requirements, so if you and the birthparents live in different states, then you should probably find out which state has the most requirements in order to err on the safe side and make sure all information necessary is present. Homestudies require FBI background and fingerprint checks, so it can take at least 2 months to get that finished!
I don't know if you can get around doing a homestudy if you are doing independent adoption. From what I am reading it seems like the STATE requires it in order to finalize.
Good luck!
Dina
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