[amy_b]

DH and I are currently awaiting our official license to foster through the state of Kansas (YAY!) We are also thinking of pursuing a domestic adoption, but have not yet decided how we want to proceed with that. If we have a homestudy already completed through our foster agency, will we have to get a different homestudy for domestic adoption? If so, are they pretty much the same as far as what type of documents you need and so forth?

Thanks!

ETA: Also, if we decide to adopt a foster child that we have as a placement should the opportunity to do so come along, is there a different homestudy that has to be done?

[Elle83]

The foster home study is less comprehensive then the adoption homestudy. Our foster homestudy involved a half hour chat and was a 1 page document. Ouyr adoption homsetudy was 4 hours of interviews and turned into a 15 page report.

I would just check on what you have now ... some agencies licence all families as foster-adopt so you may have both done already... we did them seperatly, we just fostered for 8 months then did an adoption HS.

An adoption home study is normally okay for any kind of adoption (as far as I know) but if you have it done through an agency to adopt from foster care and then want to use it for a domestic adoption you may need to reimburse the agency or the state for the cost of the homestudy.

[Godmother]

One difference for me was I had to provide copies of my divorce decree. If I was married and adopted without my husband's consent....trouble of some sort. The foster part was no half hour chat. It was 3 home visits and a report that took 2 months to write up. And I had been a foster parent in 2 other states already. They had copies of my whole file from the other states. The adoption part (divorce decree and more complete financial statements) was just tacked on at the end because I was getting licensed to take kids that I had had before in another state. I was told by their state that I would be adopting them. 3 yrs later and I can't even get guardianship of them because of continued mess ups by the sending state.

[Mystik]

We did our "foster parent" home study about a year and a half ago and are currently in the midst of our "adoption" home study. As far as the documentation required I have found everything to be about the same for each home study. The interviews on the other hand are far more thorough and in depth for the adoption home study in comparison to the foster parent one.

We just had our interviews done this week and they seriously took the entire day from 9:30am to 4:30pm Monday where she interviewed each of us separately and then continued again on Tuesday to finish up the rest of my separate interview before going on to our joint interview and she was here from 10am to 2pm Tuesday. When we had the interviews for our foster parent one it took less that 2 hours for her to interview us separately and then together and it was done.

I will say that although the adoption interviews are more in depth, I was incredibly terrified about them before they even happened and now that they have I find myself scratching my head wondering why I was so worried. It's really basic stuff and the anticipation building up to having them was so much worse than the interviews themselves. I think unless you have some serious skeletons in the closet, or blatantly lie and they find out about it, then there is really nothing to worry about. I have also found that even things that might seem questionable can still fly as long as you're open and honest and really explain the situation. We were so nervous and she explained to us that she's not looking for reasons to "fail" us, she's looking for all the reasons that we "should" adopt.

[amy_b]

Mystik- WOW! That is some serious interviewing! Glad to hear it wasn't as bad as you thought it might be. Congrats on your pending adoptions! So, my next question is, our agency knows that we want to adopt in addition to foster, so is it possible that they would have done both homestudies? I will ask for sure on Monday when I can get a hold of someone. As far as using the homestudy for a domestic adoption, like a PP said, the state may want us to reimburse them for that, and I have no problem doing that. I didn't want a free homestudy, I just don't want to have to do all the same things over again since we just finished doing it for foster/adopt licensing. Would it be inappropriate to ask my SW if it is possible to use this homestudy also for a possible domestic adoption, as long as we were willing to pay them for it? I don't want to make anyone mad.....

[Mystik]

I'm not entirely sure, but would venture to guess it's unlikely that you can use your "foster parent" home study for any adoption. Whether you are adopting through the State or privately they will still most likely require a separate "adoption" home study to be done.

Our adoption home study is being done free by our agency, but they maintain the rights to it and won't even allow us to see it, which is unfortunate, but as long as we're with this agency the home study is good for the next 5 years. However should we move out of State or something and try to adopt again outside of this particular agency then they will not allow us to use this home study and we'll have to do it all over again.

I have heard that you can get a private home study done by certain places for as little as $500 and you have full access to it to use as you please and it will remain valid for 5 years also, so that may be the route you'd prefer to take?

[Elle83]

I should clarify that the "half hour chat" for our foster homestudy followed on from the 36 hour training course our agency requires that the same social worker who did the homestudy taught so we had spent plenty of time together by the time the actual homestudy happened (there were only 4 people, including us in the training)

Mystik makes a good point about private home studies being possible for $500ish. I asked our agency about buying our homestudy and the state agency (PA) requires that we reimburse them $2500. So it might be a better idea, financially, to do it again (although I can see not feeling like going through it all again).

[jbee]

our foster care one was about an hour for the interview, after all the foster care training and stuff (40 hours through our agency). our adoption one was about an hour, too. i think the county person used the foster one and added on.

[amy_b]

So, who would I contact about getting a homestudy done that we could use for a private adoption (not using an agency?) I know it has to be done by a licensed SW, and I looked online and have not really been able to figure anything out. We live in a rural community so maybe I need to look in surrounding areas of the state in bigger cities?

[stevenstwin]

I'm always suprised by the differences from place to place. Our foster care homestudy took about 12 hours and involved interviewing every member of my family - even my 7 year old - separately and together. That is in addition to the 36 hours of training. In the end, we were approved to long-term foster but not to adopt our 14 year old, which I didn't think made much sense...keep him forever but not adopt? And the reason was really interesting - because my 13 year old was opposed. They would not upgrade it to allow us to adopt unless and until we took family counselling and she changed her mind.