[eseflow]

We are going to our first appointment of our home study in about a week. Should we dress up, or be casual, or somewhere in between? What should we expect as far as questions and anything else?

[Tsmom]

Just dress as you normally would. My dh and I just wore Levis and t-shirts. This is what our SW did:
Group Interview:
Look at your husband and describe him: look at your wife and decribe her (personalities)
How did you meet? , What kinds of things do you do together? How do you handle arrgruments? If you have previous marriages, you will be asked about them, and why they failed. Any infertility problems (if the SW feels you have any unresolved issues, you will not pass) She will check out your doctors reports and ask questions about any medical issues that she is concerned about. (Surgeries, mental illness, etc)
Why China, gender you are requesting, age you are requesting, your relationship with your in laws, and then we made our appointments for the other interviews.
Home inspection: Our SW was very easy. (I have heard we are very lucky) she came in and just made notes like, formal dining room (even though we have a pool table in that room), full bedroom and full bath douwnstairs, etc. she went through both levels and the back yard. We have a 4 year old (he was 3 at the time) and she asked him to show her his room, asked him what he like to do for fun and observed him playing for a few minutes. This was his interview. (We were with him the whole time, he threw a monster sized fit, so she got to see us disipline and we still passed! - He also fell on his face right before she got there and had this big mark on his face!)
My Individual: She went over my autobiography that I wrote and asked me about my hobbies as a kids, favorite memories, my occupation, why I chose it, my education level, relationships with my parents and siblings, where they live, what they do for a living, and how I will disipline my child.
DH interview: Same as mine, but DH is insulin diabetic and a lot of his questions were about his medications and how he manages them.
And that's it!
Others can chime in and tell you some questions there SW asked and someone on this board had to have a fire marshall come out! Our SW didn't check out outlets, didn't check to see where we stored poision, she did check our pool safty devices though. On another board, some SW were checking bedroom closets!
Good Luck!
Nona

[Shannon-N-Bobby]

We were business casual (left our work clothes on). Had a 20 min interview together and then 2 separate ones. Most questions were easy...some I just hadn't thought about her asking (ie what are you doing to work on your relationship....uhhhhh... ). We had to talk about how we were raised and how we expect to discipline, etc. She did a really quick walkthrough of the house and we had to point out the fire detectors and promise to move any cleaning supplies to a shelf. DH had to demonstrate he knew how to use the fire exstinguisher (funny how she just assumed I would be the one who caused the fire in the kitchen. LOL.) This Sunday she's coming back to go over her report with us to make sure it is factually correct. And, ta-dahhhhh!

Good luck!

[luvmykatydid]

It wasn't bad at all. Be yourself, tidy up the house (of course) and make sure it looks safe and clean. Answer questions candidly, and you will be fine! Ours was so much easier than we had inticipated. The SW just wanted to know about us, why we wanted to adopt, any questions we had... She met our kids, but didn't ask questions about discipline. We did have to fill out a 14 page questionnaire-it took HOURS to fill out! That was easily the worst part. My DH put it off until the night before. My advice, DON'T DO THAT!

Good luck and don't sweat it too much. Really, they aren't going to scrutinize you that much. They just need to do it, so they do!

[jchrapcyn]

Did you have to have 4 visits by the SW? We were told by 2 different SW that China requires 4 face to face visits for the homestudy.

[prechrswife]

We did have to have 4 visits, but don't get stressed out about that.

[luvmykatydid]

For us, we had one visit with just me at the office when I submitted my application, two visits at home (one interview, one to go over the rough draft), and one was a CNY party at the SW office that they counted as visit 4. Pretty easy, huh? No big deal in my book.

Jennie

[morsedonna]

My DH and I met for most of our appts. before or during work, so we were dressed in business casual. On our last appointment we went very casual (shorts) so that she could see who we are away from work. I do not think it really was an issue either way.
1st appointment was together at our home- She talked to us and looked around. The only comment she made about our house was that we needed to fence the pool which we already knew. She did not look in any closets or cabinets. I was kind of suprised that she did not say anything about my formal living room. I have glass top tables that I plan to replace and she did not say a word. She also did bot comment on me doing anything about my stairs??
2nd & 3rd Appt my husband and I met her sepratley- he met at her office, I met her at mine. More questions. Just more questions about ourselves and each other
4th was again at our home she needed to see the fence for the pool. It was only about 10 min.

[rmillerridlon]

Our SW lived in a different city than ours so a few of our appointments were consolidated to save on drive time. The 1st meeting was at our home where she asked the standard questions about our relationship, our relationship with our families, DH's relationship with his kids, why we were adopting, etc. She toured the house and checked the alarms, but didn't have a lot to say about it and never looked in any cabinets. (After I spent hours cleaning them out and making sure all poisions were put up high!) She just asked the kids (both teenagers) a little bit about themselves and how they felt about the adoption. She even met the dogs (two VERY active Beagle puppies) and asked a bit about them.

The next meeting was in an town between the two cities and she met with both of us, just talked a little more about the relationship, and then talked to both of us privately.

For each appointment we just left on our workclothes (bus casual for me, khaki shorts and golf shirt for DH).

After the enormous amount of stress I was causing myself over the home-study it actually went very smoothly and I realized I had worked myself up for nothing.

Ramona
Soon to be mother of Katie-Beth
DTC 2/14/05
LID 2/26/05