[umaangel00]

My husband and I have found our own birthmom. Well my mother in law and sister in law found her but nonetheless we are very excited! She is due in 2 weeks. With that being said, we want to use an attrony rather than an agency. Do we need a homestudy then? We live in Kent County. We do not have a homestudy done either. If we do need one can you recommend a place we can get one done rather quickly and cheaply? We just found out about this on Thursday so we need to move rapidly. Thanks!

[ContactChar]

I am not in Michigan, but from what I understand, every state requires a homestudy. In some states, the homestudy can be conducted even post placement. I would recommend contacting an experienced adoption attorney immediately-- not just an attorney who does adoptions on the side. (If you post on the Michigan board, you may find someone to pm a recommendation to you.) Your attorney should be able to put you in touch with someone who can do an expedited homestudy.

Good luck!

[BrandyHagz]

Char is correct - you must have a homstudy to do an adoption - this is the law in all 50 states.

Do contact an adoption attorney ASAP - you'll need an attorney anyway to complete the adoptoion. Also, find out what the laws are in your state regarding the use of agencies - some states require the use of agencies in adoption.

Has the expectant mother been provided with pre-placement counseling? If this placement is something you hope to move forward with, you should talk to her about attending pre-placement counseling and you should find a counselor in her area who can counsel her on the affects of placement so she can be prepared to deal with the emotion.

[Persephone76]

I'm not from Michigan but I wanted to wish you good luck.

[umaangel00]

You still need a homestudy? I find that very hard to believe since you are not going through an agency only a lawyer. Besides, I have heard several stories of people not needing a homestudy to do a private adoption I just wanted to make sure that was true. I have posted this in the Michigan board but no one seems to respond to me there so I thought I would post this here.

[ContactChar]

I believe in some instances you do not need a homestudy to do a relative adoption. For all others, however, you will need one. One thing I forgot to mention-- in addition to hiring a lawyer for yourself, both you and the expectant mom would be well served if you retain a separate lawyer for her as well.

[beth9927]

Hi. I'm not in Michigan, but I had a private adoption through an attorney, no agency, and I had to have a homestudy.

Good luck!
Beth

[Honesty76]

Hi there! I have adopted four times from Michigan (two through foster care and two infants) and just adopted a baby from New York this week. We are also in Kent County and Yes, you do need a homestudy and sounds like you will need one quickly! We were in a similar situation (a rush situation) for this New York adoption. The worker came out on Friday morning and had our homestudy update done by Monday afternoon!! I know you will need more than an update but pretty much same thing as we had to do the medicals, clearances, etc etc also. If you'd like I can PM you the agency and the particular worker we worked with- she was GREAT!!

Best of luck!
~Leslie

[umaangel00]

Originally Posted by Honesty76

Hi there! I have adopted four times from Michigan (two through foster care and two infants) and just adopted a baby from New York this week. We are also in Kent County and Yes, you do need a homestudy and sounds like you will need one quickly! We were in a similar situation (a rush situation) for this New York adoption. The worker came out on Friday morning and had our homestudy update done by Monday afternoon!! I know you will need more than an update but pretty much same thing as we had to do the medicals, clearances, etc etc also. If you'd like I can PM you the agency and the particular worker we worked with- she was GREAT!!

Best of luck!
~Leslie

Any help you can give would be great! Also, do you have an approximate cost involved?

[ourdreamcametru]

We also found our own birthmother, or rather, she found us. Nonetheless,the answer is yes, you do still need a home study. This is required in every state and for every adoption, private or agency. Our attorney was able to set our home study up for us and there was a rush on it since the baby was due pretty soon. Also, you will want to hire a seperate attorney to represent the pbmother. Our attorney also set this up for us using another attorney in her practice, I think the cost was an additional $150. This is something that was very worth the extra expense since the birthmother didn't have to feel like she was talking to someone who would turn around and tell us everything she said. Although our daughter's bmother would/will not accept counseling I would suggest that you try and convence your pbmother to go. Good luck!