[Underwood]

We live in Northern California and are just in the beginning stages of adoption. We are going thru a private adoption attorney and a private agency for the homestudy. Does anyone have any tips on what to expect for the homestudy? We finally just got done with the paperwork, our physicals, fingerprints etc. We are really anxious about this....

[trunks888]

Well,
I havnt had it done yet but I hear the biggest tip is to relax
the social worker wants to aprove you and make the best match for a child to you.

They look for what parents are best for child not what child best for parents.

If you wish to know more of what to expect go to
http://www.calib.com/naic/parents/intro.cfm#educate

there's so much helpful info on that site.

Take care and may God bless.

[ISW]

Let me tell you what our experience was....we are in california too so our experiences should be similar. The last stage of our homestudy included two on-site visits to our home. So naturally, we spent a lot of time scrubbing our home to the point of sterility, making sure our yard--front and back were in tip-top shape, washed both dogs so they would smell clean. We were very nervous and had no idea what to expect.

Three days before the homestudy, one of our dogs got skunked. And I mean, directly. I came home late one night, began walking up to my front door and noticed a strong skunk smell. As I approached my house, it got stronger. When I opened the door, it was so strong, it didn't even smell like skunk anymore and I literally thought that something on the stove was burning so I rushed into the kitchen...nothing...well, when a skunk gets you, it doesn't smell like the skunk we usually are used to smelling. It was like the entire house was made of rubber and was on fire....we finally figured it out and realized that not only the dog was hit by a skunk, but he proceeded to rub himself all over the carpets, furniture, everything and anything to get the smell out...oh yeah, and one more thing---you can't do much to get the smell out of your house--you have to wait it out and it takes a week at least. Needless to say, we freaked out! I figured I would tell the SW about why the house smelled that way--what else could I do?

So she comes to the house and I immediately tell her the skunk story to which she seemed completely unfazed by it. She sits in a living room chair and I sit next to her and I look down on the rug, and there I see a spot where one of my dogs vomited directly in front of her chair. !! I swear, it was like a curse! Again, she seemed unfazed.

In the end, she asked us some question about our written portion of our homestudy--nothing that wasn't covered already so we just reitereated what was already known. The second time she interviewed us separately but we were consistent with what was already known and documented. The rest of the homestudy was to be sure that your house was in livable condition. It was really not that big a deal at all....so when you're sitting there wondering if you're living up the SWs expectation, remember this story!

Good luck!

[trunks888]

Julianna made some good points.
Also offer the worker somthing to drink and try not worry to much ether.

good luck!

[ISW]

In regards to what JulianaTeresa posted, we had no baby proofing up yet and it was not an issue. However, the SW may point out what you should do to baby proof in the future. If you are adopting a toddler, then I guess this would make sense, however, there was no need for us to have any baby proofing done for a newborn.

And I certainly wouldn't bake and do anything out of the ordinary. This just makes you look like you're hiding something or trying to hard to make an impression.

No one I know who has adopted has had any issue arise out of a homestudy...I'm sure everything will go swimmingly

[Sandy_L_D]

Hi,

We also live in California and just went through our homestudy. We are matched with a Birth Mom and waiting for the baby to be born. After filling out all of the paper work and completing the other aspects of the requirements (Physicals, fingerprinting, DMV records, Marriage/Divorce records ....etc.), I met with the Social Worker at a coffee shop. She interviewed me for approximately an hour - focusing mostly on family background. At this time, she also told me that I should take the following steps prior to her visit:

1) Purchase small safes to lock up all perscription medications (also indicated it is a good idea to lock up things like aspirin). We purchased small brinks safes at Target for each bathroom and on fishing tackle box for the larger misc stuff like tylenol and aspirin, and vitamins.)
2) Move all kitchen cleaning supplies onto high shelves (separate from food).
3) Make sure that we had working fire alarms and fire extinguishers (up and down stairs)
4) Purchase a lock for any working refridgerators in the garage (we have one)
5) Move toxic bathroom cleaners from under the sink, as well as, any thing that was liquid that could be swallowed.
5) Fence in our pool (This obviously takes longer to arrange so we were told that we would have 30 days to have this done following her visit to our home.)

She came to our home one week after my interview. At this time she had a private interview with my husband (primarily asking about family history). She then interviewed both of us together. During this interview she inquired more about our parenting styles, communication, why we wanted to adopt. She then did a walk-through of our home. She asked to see under the kitchen sink and looked to see where we had moved the items that we generally kept there. She looked at the fire extinguishers and smoke detectors. She then looked at the bathrooms were we showed her our little Brink Safes for our perscriptions and under the sinks. We also gave her an idea on how we planned to fence in the pool. She was at our home for approximately an hour. I later emailed pictures of our new pool fence when it was installed.

The whole process was very relaxed and painless! Hope this information helps a little.

One last note - I have a 15 year old. I was surprised that he was never interviewed. Our Social Worker told us it was not required or necessary.

[trunks888]

Sandy,
I'm glade you posted this,
I had never thought about some of the things you listed.
Also didnt know that social workers would tell you what needs to be done before the home study takes place.
intresting

[Support2Adopt]

Hello Underwood and welcome!
With our homestudies, we were interviewed together, then separately. We were asked about our childhood, our ideas of disipline, how we react with a disagreement, etc. We were also asked about what type of placement we would be open to, our religious beliefs, hobbies and interests.
The sw made a visit to our home to be sure it was safe for a child. Before a sw visits your home, you might ask what kind of safety measures you need to take. For example, fire alarms, an escape plan in case of fire, a fire extinguisher, etc.
JJ

[Support2Adopt]

[quote]Originally posted by ISW

Three days before the homestudy, one of our dogs got skunked. And I mean, directly. I came home late one night, began walking up to my front door and noticed a strong skunk smell. As I approached my house, it got stronger. When I opened the door, it was so strong, it didn't even smell like skunk anymore and I literally thought that something on the stove was burning so I rushed into the kitchen...nothing...well, when a skunk gets you, it doesn't smell like the skunk we usually are used to smelling. It was like the entire house was made of rubber and was on fire....we finally figured it out and realized that not only the dog was hit by a skunk, but he proceeded to rub himself all over the carpets, furniture, everything and anything to get the smell out...oh yeah, and one more thing---you can't do much to get the smell out of your house--you have to wait it out and it takes a week at least. Needless to say, we freaked out! I figured I would tell the SW about why the house smelled that way--what else could I do?

So she comes to the house and I immediately tell her the skunk story to which she seemed completely unfazed by it. She sits in a living room chair and I sit next to her and I look down on the rug, and there I see a spot where one of my dogs vomited directly in front of her chair. !! I swear, it was like a curse! Again, she seemed unfazed.


LOL. I'm sorry. I know it wasn't funny at the time, but in reading your post, I find the humor. Don't shoot me!
JJ

[ISW]

It's important to maintain a sense of humor during stressful times!

[Underwood]

We are using the Family Network agency in Monterey ...our attorney recommended them.

Thanks to all of you who have given me advice about the homestudy. We'll know whaat to expect. I'm not really nervous, just anxious to get this going. We just sent in our paperwork today.

[chris27288]

hi! congrats on begining the process! we are currently doing our third homestudy. we freaked the first time around, but this time, we did not. infact, we did little to no special cleaning, no baking, wore shorts, etc. they just want to get to know you, why you want to adopt, etc. our kids ages 3 and 6, were being kids---constantly interupting, running, playing, crying, etc. not to mention our 5 month old dog jumping, barking, etc. it was very hectic, and we didn't sit for more than a minute during her visit. she stayed an hour. i think she was more than ready to leave our crazy house!LOL
anyway, my point is, relax, it's not a big deal, they just have to write up your life story. you'll do fine!
chris