[LollipopsAndGumdrops]

I've read a lot of threads about homestudies and how people worry. It seems that one social worker will complain if your house is too tidy as if you aren't ready for children, while another will complain if it is too cluttered as if you have too much going on for children.

I am pretty good on the by-the-book expectations for a homestudy and interview like making sure their checklist items are met, but I'm looking for the unspoken advice from those who have been there/done that.

One piece of advice I found useful, for instance, was that some social workers won't drink from an open container like a cup in families' homes, so make sure to offer them "a can of soda or a bottle of water" among their options. What other advice is out there to make this the smoothest possible ride?

Suzanna

[fredalina]

Basically, relax. Be honest, and don't stress too much. Remember that the home visit is only one part of the overall home study (people always get that confused!). The home study is literally a study of your home, your family life, etc. What are you like? What is your family life like? What's your approach to parenting, and issues that may arise? Is your family hectic or laid back? Indoorsy/homebodies or outdoorsy/always on the go? What's your marriage like? What issues have you dealt with in the past and how did you deal with them? Basically, it's your whole life story. The home inspection is just one tiny piece of your life story, right? It's not nearly as important.

All i can tell you is our home inspection went just fine. We got our closets and such organized first, did some cleaning too but mostly organizing, and we tackled the checklist thoroughly, and when we walked the case worker through our home, we noted most of the checklist items (i.e. "and here's one of our smoke detectors", "and this is where we keep the medication safe", "we keep our cleaning supplies in this locked cabinet", etc), and we were good to go. There were a few things we didn't cover ourselves (i.e. we don't have firearms so obviously we didn't say "This is where our gun safe isn't" lol).

The interview portion of the home study was the other piece i fretted over, and it also went fine. Basically any big things we left out or glossed over (accidentally, of course) in our autobiographies were asked about in more detail. Our autobiographies were really long and involved so the interviews went by in a snap.

Not sure what else to tell you, other than definitely follow up after it's all done and make sure your home study passes through the system, since ours certainly isn't.

[jphollen]

I only had some small issues with paperwork getting "lost." My only advice would be to make copies of EVERYTHING, and be prepared to hand in things more than once.

I think it was the list of essay type questions we each had to write that got lost. I was paranoid about rewriting them so if they were "found" and my new answers were different... I was worried this would be an issue.

Good luck

[sparkle1908]

Originally Posted by fredalina

Basically, relax. Be honest, and don't stress too much. Remember that the home visit is only one part of the overall home study (people always get that confused!). The home study is literally a study of your home, your family life, etc. What are you like? What is your family life like? What's your approach to parenting, and issues that may arise? Is your family hectic or laid back? Indoorsy/homebodies or outdoorsy/always on the go? What's your marriage like? What issues have you dealt with in the past and how did you deal with them? Basically, it's your whole life story. The home inspection is just one tiny piece of your life story, right? It's not nearly as important.

All i can tell you is our home inspection went just fine. We got our closets and such organized first, did some cleaning too but mostly organizing, and we tackled the checklist thoroughly, and when we walked the case worker through our home, we noted most of the checklist items (i.e. "and here's one of our smoke detectors", "and this is where we keep the medication safe", "we keep our cleaning supplies in this locked cabinet", etc), and we were good to go. There were a few things we didn't cover ourselves (i.e. we don't have firearms so obviously we didn't say "This is where our gun safe isn't" lol).

The interview portion of the home study was the other piece i fretted over, and it also went fine. Basically any big things we left out or glossed over (accidentally, of course) in our autobiographies were asked about in more detail. Our autobiographies were really long and involved so the interviews went by in a snap.

Not sure what else to tell you, other than definitely follow up after it's all done and make sure your home study passes through the system, since ours certainly isn't.

Well this will be interesting for me when I get to this point...I am single with no children..I'm the only one in the house(with 2 dogs)...guess my visit will be relatively short since there won't be much to talk about...

[fredalina]

They'll ask about your family life, how your parents disciplined, whether you were and are close to your siblings and parents, what your lifestyle is like (dating, friends, etc), religion, work history, esperience with kids, stuff like that. But yes, it will be fine.

And ABSOLUTELY keep copies of EVERY scrap of paperwork you give them. We've had to give copies of all our homework and another document on 2 occasions (they SHREDDED our homework!), so frustrating! Glad we kept copies.

[LollipopsAndGumdrops]

I'm reading all this and taking it in and looking forward to more helpful hints.

[ncsingledad]

The home visit part of the homestudy process goes a lot smoother than you think it will. As long as your home is neat and tidy, you'll be fine. What your worker will be looking for varies from state to state, but in general as long as you have a bed for a child, and the home is in good repair, there's nothing to worry about.

In North Carolina, we have separate visits from a fire inspector and the caseworker (in addition to the interviews of you and your family). The fire inspection form is on the web: http://info.dhhs.state.nc.us/olm/forms/dss/dss-1515.pdf

and the environmental health/safety checklist is: http://info.dhhs.state.nc.us/olm/for...ss-5150-ia.pdf
These will at least give you a good starting point of things that they might be looking for. Do some checking around and see if you can find your state's forms on the web so you can get prepared in advance, or ask your worker for copies of them. It works better to know what they're going to be lookign for so you can avoid any suprises and having to fix a problem and wait for reinspection.


You'll also need a medical exam, possibly a TB test, background checks (including being fingerprinted).

I agree with making copies of everything. Document and make notes of conversations and the things you're doing along the way. You might not need it, but it sure can't hurt.