[mikinitaly]

Hello! I'm de-lurking to ask if there is a minimum square footage required for an arriving child's room-- do any of the guidelines specify how large it should be? And out of curiosity, is it a homestudy requirement, or a country-specific one?

Thank you!

[foxl]

That is definitely a local requirement, not a China one.

[bethnil]

We had out HS Jan. I don't remember it being a requirement about sq. footage. I think for our state children of opposite sex over 5 must have there own room. Also, the room needed to have a window. My youngest son (20 mo) will share a room with his little sister when she comes home. I think he will do the most adjusting. I plan on putting her crib in our room at first for bonding purposes and ease her in with him as everyone becomes more comfortable with the situation.

Beth

[stephdpenn]

When our sw done the homevisit she didn't measure anything. As a matter of fact we had just built onto our house and was not sure of the sq.f. of the whole house so together we guessed and that is the number that was typed up in our hs.

[Paul&Dee]

We didn't have to put sqft in our HS
and it wasn't mentioned. The baby's room will be 10'x12' so 120 sqft
Paul

[TaraL]

There was no restrictions on room size for the homestudy or for China. Olivia's room is pretty small (8X13) but oh so cute. It think the only restrictions were regarding mixing opposite sex children after a certain age and that the child had to have a room and there couldn't be a crib just sitting in a hallway, etc. That was it.

[mikinitaly]

Thanks to all for your replies.

[chinagirl2006]

We we're given a specific size for the nursery - our SW just wanted to make sure we had a room for her. Our house is small so our bedrooms are small - we were never questioned about the size.

[Momof2boysinOH]

I believe that in our state (Ohio) they require there to be 50 square feet per child per bedroom. This is so that you don't cram 3 or 4 children in a 10 x 10 room. Our daughter will initially sleep with us but then she will have her own room, 10 x 11.

[journeytograce]

We live in Georgia, and were not told of any room size requirements. The SW took a quick glance in the room (which is my son's right now) on her way out the door, and that was all.

[sak9645]

Rules about how large a room has to be, how many children can occupy it, etc. are specific to each state.

Sharon

[maureen3770]

I just wanted to chime in here...better late than never I guess! The room size and other requirement for where the child will live are local requirements. Local can sometimes mean the state requirements, but I know that for where I live, the county requirements are more strict/descriptive than the state requirements so that is what they followed for my home study.

Now, this doesn't mean that the requirements are "strict" -- I think Olivia's room had to be at least 60 square feet and my closet is bigger than that so that's probably why no one ever measured it. They also require that a child not share a room with an adult, so I had to have at least 2 bedrooms. The standards followed here in Chicago (Cook County) are basically the same ones that would be required if I was applying for approval as a Foster Parent. I don't recall them saying that the room had to have a window, but I did have to have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and a fire extinguisher in the home. Every locality is a little different, but probably pretty much basically the same. Your social worker will know the requirements for your area.

Good luck on your journey!

Maureen

[Momof2boysinOH]

Originally Posted by maureen3770

I don't recall them saying that the room had to have a window, but I did have to have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and a fire extinguisher in the home. Every locality is a little different, but probably pretty much basically the same. Your social worker will know the requirements for your area.

We were told that in our state we needed to have a fire extinguisher, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors on each floor, a fire evacuation plan written or diagrammed, and our child's room had to have 2 escape routes (door and window). Again, this is local so check with your social worker to find out requirements in your state.