[SweetMel]

Hubby and I are in the process of buying our first home, and plan of getting a couple the room set up sort to by child appropiate in hopes that when I finish school we can start the process of becoming foster parents, and hopeful get places with a sibling set we can adopt

Only thing I have concern about is the background check, he got a couple drug charges from a while back, before we even met.. but since then has stayed clean. Does anyone know, exactly what they are looking for in the background checks?? I'm hoping my hubby's past mistakes arnt going to ruion our future plans.

Melissa

[DianeS]

In a background check, they're looking for anything that says you wouldn't be a good influence/role model, etc to an at-risk child.

That definately counts murder, physical assault, any physical abuse of a child, domestic violence, sexual crimes, any sexual issues with a child, etc. It can count recent drug/alcohol activity. It usually doesn't count things like speeding tickets.

It's always best to be honest. Anything involving police officers, fingerprinting, court appearances, tickets, etc will show up somewhere. If your worker already knows about the incident and has been told how different your lives are now, and what you do to keep away from the temptation of that old style of life, then she can explain that in the homestudy and it might be OK.

Different areas have different things they use to decide if it's a pass or a fail for the background check. Get the specifics of the case straight (number of years ago, exact charges, exact sentence, date it was all resolved, etc) and call to ask if that would be a problem or not. You may be told it's fine, or you'd never be accepted, or that you'd be accepted after X number of years had passed with a clean record. But at least you'd know for sure.

Good luck!