[rd200]

HI, so we have our home study tuesday and im wondering what she will all look at? i mean, is she going to look under my bed to see if i vaccuumed under there or behind my couch? she said she would be there like 30 minutes or so. my house is only 1300 sq ft, not too big, so what is she going to do for the other 20 minutes after looking around my tiny house? anyone who has been through one please let me know what yours was like. Thanks Rach

[Singlemom619]

It depends on the worker. I've had four or five home studies ( I think)... I've had some where they walk through the house - without stopping - just asking me questions ("Is XXX in XXX") type things. I've only had 2 workers that actually checked to see that there were fire extinguishers, etc.

Basically they just look for safety things - water doesn't get too hot, fire extinguishers, smoke alarms in place, cleaning supplies put away, etc. It depends what rules your agency has. If something isn't right they just tell you to fix it (and you can do it right then.)

Other than that they'll talk to you - ask you what ages you want, answer questions, clarify what type of child you want, etc.

[Dmommab]

they look in the rooms & usually write down what kind of beds are in the bedrooms & who sleeps there. Then they ask where the child(ren) will sleep.
They look to see that we have a fire extinguisher, check all smoke alarms, check hot water temperature, ask where medications & cleaning supplies are kept.
THAT's IT! GOod LUCK!

[sambob]

Ours was nothing like a safety check. She took a tour of the house, asked about who is in each room, and we just chatted about random stuff. It was more of a chance to get to know us, our home environment, our lifestyle, etc. She never looked at fire alarms, safety gates, or anything like that.

[rd200]

We have all of our smoke alarms in working order, our fire ext. and stuff like that is all fine. i'm just worried our house isnt going to be clean enough. i know she isnt going to do the white glove test, but i just want it to be perfect and i have been working at it forever. Thanks Rach

[mondk]

Our SW spent most of her time here ooh'ing and aaah'ing over the travel stroller system we'd just bought. She wanted to see how it folded up and stuff...other than that, we offered her cookies and coffee which she passed on that...asked how many rooms was in our house, then how many bedrooms, then she wanted to see the nursery, the fire extinguishers and our smoke detectors etc. Then she sat for about 20 min. just chatting. That was it!

You'll be fine....tell us how it went!

Blessings, Michelle

[Tigger2]

Try to relax. Our homestudy was more the tour, get to see us in our own environment type visit. I know that I stressed for nothing.

Good luck and let us know how it goes....

[blessedbybug]

Originally Posted by rd200

HI, so we have our home study tuesday and im wondering what she will all look at? i mean, is she going to look under my bed to see if i vaccuumed under there or behind my couch? she said she would be there like 30 minutes or so. my house is only 1300 sq ft, not too big, so what is she going to do for the other 20 minutes after looking around my tiny house? anyone who has been through one please let me know what yours was like. Thanks Rach

From my experience, the SWs are looking to make sure that your home is an adequate and safe place for a child to live. It was more extensive in our homestudies to adopt/foster-adopt from the province but for the most part, they just looked to make sure there was room for children and it was a safe environment. Of course, I cleaned way too much because you know, that's what we do, and it ended up not being that big of a deal in the end. Good luck tomorrow!

[uwadad]

We are having ours 12/22/2008. from what a friend has told me about theirs is they look at the house, smoke alarms,if home is infested by bugs or rodents,then they sit down and talk to both parents about their biographies, family, and any questions related to your roadwork from your GPS classes. They will also want copies of your marraige license, drivers license, proof of auto insurance, homeowners insurance, and pet vaccinations. Hope this helps good luck on yours.

[DancinBear63]

Don't kill yourself cleaning- I wish DH and I hadn't tried to get the Good Housekeeping seal of approval, we would have been a lot calmer. Our sw just wanted to get a general idea of how we used each room, and ask any questions that came up from reading our autobiographies.

Example
SW: What do you call this?
Us: The foyer
SW: What do you use it for?
Us: Nothing, it's the foyer

(later, moving into the room off the kitchen)
SW: What do you call this room?
Us: We don't know. It was built as a dining space, but since we have a dining room, it's where we keep our wine bar.
SW: Could a child play here?
Us: Ummm....sure.
SW: Okay, I'll write it down as a main floor playroom.

And so it went....I was a LOT frustrated. I mean, I could have just sent a floorplan. I wanted her to see that I had cleaned that spot behind the toilet that's always too hard to reach, and that my towels matched the shower curtain.

Relax! It will be just fine.

[Fran27]

My SW was a bit the same, she really only wanted to see the room so she could write down how many rooms of each type we have. She saw the office and wrote it down as a potential playroom/bedroom I think. She checked for fire extinguishers and fire alarms, and that's about it.

[NicoleP80]

They are looking to make sure you live in a SAFE home. They are not looking to see if you dusted or vacuumed. Our SW was really relaxed. We took him on a tour of our home. Our kids rooms were messy, but not nasty. The room that is now our sons was a "catch all" of everything. There was barely room to walk but it was the room were going to use for the baby, of course we have since cleared it out But he just wanted to see where we lived. Looked around and all was well. Your house should look "lived in" and like a home. Not a catalog.

Good luck! You will be FINE!

[rd200]

Thanks for the reassurance. i really like my SW and i'm sure she wont look behind my toilet. but if she does, its clean!! i am just so excited at the same time cuz our home study only took a month and a half or so and we ran around like a bunch of idiots getting all of our paperwork done and documents gathered and appt. made. i mean, we even went to the cop shop on our anniversary to get fingerprinted!!! we can finally get our profile shown once i get it done. she is approving it tomm so i just have to get copies made yet. thanks for all the support up to this point. i hope things go quickly after this, which i'm sure everyone wishes that too!
Rach

[jules17]

We've been through 4 home studies. All a piece of cake!!

They really just want to know that your home is safe ...as in, nothing crazy like exposed wires or something.

I know I sound weird, but once I calmed down, I really enjoyed ours. I hope you do too.

[rd200]

HI, my SW just left my house. it wasnt bad at all. however i did forget a few things and she wants me to get them done right away. like putting locks on the cleaning supplys cabinet, i forgot that, and we need smoke detectors in all the bedrooms. i just have one at teh top of the stairs which is where the doors are to all of the bedrooms so i thought it would be fine. but she totally didnt like look around at how well things were cleaned like i thought. she just asked me a few questions on my neighborhood and that was it. i am sooo relieved that its over. it was nothing to stress about i guess in the end. but she has looked at my profile twice now and was suppose to bring it out with her to give back to me and she forgot it so she's emailing me it, but she said there were a few changes she wanted to make yet. the first time she looked at it the changes were mostly punctuation and spelling mistakes, and some words crossed off. but i am kinda wondering what else she wants changed. i thought it was perfect the way it was. so after i get home from work tonight i'll have to see what she didnt like about it. i'm so glad we are done with the home study. i just have to pay the bill yet!!! Rach