[stayjay]

Hello,

My husband and I have chosen our agency and filled out the initail application. We are now in the process of filling out the CORI forms. We have been contacted by our social worker, assigned by the agency, who wants to meet with us in a few weeks! What can I expect at this meeting? She said it will last a couple of hours.

[Lissa]

I'm assuming this is the first of you homestudy visits. I had to complete 4 all together. The longest was the first, which was a couple of hours long and after that they were at most 90 minutes in length. They are fairly straightforward and easy meetings. They will aski you questions about your motivation to adopt, your background, your interests, your family, your community. As both hubby and I are "displaced" (we live in KY and my family is in Va and his in TX) they asked us a lot about friends and support networks etc. They'll give you homework...write bios, do financial forms, get physicals etc...and that's about it. Ours took about 3 weeks from first meeting to delivered write up of the homestudy.

Here's some tips about the homestudy....

Be honest
Be yourself
Remember the SW wants you to be a good parent...they are on your side

Let us know how it goes!

P.S. Some agencies will want to meet with you both together and seperately, if they want to do that, it's not uncommon. Ours always saw us together.

[stayjay]

Thank you Lissa!

That info really helps. I am so nervous!

You are a great source of information. I always look forward to reading your posts, they are so detailed and insightful.

Thanks again.

[maavjiam]

Lissa is great!! She is always there with a lot of information and insight....

Cheers

[Lissa]

You guys are all so good for my ego. I don't know why, but thank you for the praise...if only my students were so gracious...oh well, guess you can't have everything.

[MBA62]

Our home study went just about the same as Lissa stated. We had one very long visit in our home first. The SW asked about our families, how we met, our reasons for adopting, etc. Then we had another "couple" meeting and two individuals. It's normal to be nervous; we certainly were. Before we met with the SW, I felt like it was a pass/fail situation. Additionally, not knowing the person who would be asking so many personal things was a little overwhelming for me. Once it all began, it was fine and actually quite helpful for us as our SW spoke to us a great deal about some pre and post-adoption issues. The SW is really on your side. Good luck!

[Sheba]

We had 4 visits with our SW. We met both together and then separate. The longest visit was the actual home visit. She toured our house, met our kids, and animals. She basically wants to know you history and why you got married, how you met, your childhood, family values, how you will raise your child, how you punish, daycare if needed. The basic questions. I was nervous to but our SW was wonderful and afterwards, I could not phantom was I was ever nervous. She even told us she was there to help us not destroy us.

You will be fine. Breath deep and take it as it comes. I was worried but really it all works out. That was the cleaniest my house has been since my Son was born!!lol

Julie

[MBA62]

ditto on the clean house part! (haha).