[jameyevans]

Is it important to have the room painted or have baby things in the room for when the homestudy takes place? We are doing an international adoption. Thanks!

[tobeafamily]

It is not. Our room was the 'spare bedroom' that had boxes and a guest bed in it. It looked nothing like a nursery and that was perfectly fine.

HTH

Regina

[jameyevans]

Thank you for your help- any one else?

[aMarylandfamily]

... consists of alot of red tape items (physical forms completed by doctor, fire inspection, biography, background checks/finger-prints, reference letters and agency specific forms dealing with adoption preferences (sex, amount of children, special needs you can meet, etc.)) with a visit (usually one but sometimes two) to the house wherein the social worker does a basic look-see to make sure that things are clean (they don't have to be eat off the floor sanitary), neat, there aren't any safety hazards that need correcting (i.e. pool without a fence ... landing without a railing ...) and that the child or children will have a room/bed (which also doesn't need to be set up/in place at the time of visit) ... the first one you always make things shine - the next one you clean as if your Mother In Law was coming for a visit - so relax and enjoy - it can be fun!

[wreckelite]

I'm trying to get custody of my older sister's child, and I have to have an ICPC done. Is there a checklist that they use to conduct the homestudies?

[randloar]

About having the room done, we were told directly that we don't need to have it done before we go. Our photos that we sent in with our dossier said "future baby room", but we also took pictures of other rooms to show clearly that they would have their own space!

We were worried because we had a bunch of dogs (4), and we didn't know if that would be an issue. Our social worker said to leave them outside for the meetings and then they wouldn't be a problem at all. Bottom line is that (typically) they aren't looking for you to be perfect or above normal perfection, just as an earlier poster said, that things are "safe" and a good environment for the kids.

[quiescentfury]

Our son's room was an office until 5 days after he came home!!!! No the room does not have to be ready at time of the homestudy.

[SquirlyGirl]

We just had our home visit Friday and had no prep time. We have been waiting for months to get the call that they wanted to set up a time and had actually given up when we got the call that he was coming out that day.

He met me at work and then went to the house to meet my dh and do the tour.

Needless to say the room wasn't set up (it was full of boxes and stuff) There was all of the weeks worth of dirty laundry in the bathrooms. And to my horror I had left a bugandy colored bra stewn accross the dresser and the clothes that I hadn't gotten put away for the week were thrown in the floor of the bedroom under the desk. But I did warn him that the house was a mess. He told me that if there isn't any feces or rotting maggot infested food it should be ok.

Before he left he told my dh that he didn't see any reason we shouldn't pass and he is supposed to be turning in the final paperwork today.

[heatmeup]

the room does not have to be ready at time of the homestudy... i agree...

[mom2justynsarah]

Originally Posted by jameyevans

Is it important to have the room painted or have baby things in the room for when the homestudy takes place? We are doing an international adoption. Thanks!

Nope! My husband's office was in the midst of being converted into the baby's room when we had our homestudy. We had nothing "baby" in their at all. But our social worker got the gist of it. What they are looking for is the fact that you have an adequate room for the baby.

[wreckelite]

I'm in the process of converting my office into the baby room but now I'm having to tear our my spare bathroom because of water damage and the tub and sink are in there. So then I decided to just get some bunk beds for my spare bedroom and mae that the baby's room. While I'm in transition will it look bad for a home study to be conducted with all tha bathroom stuff in the office?