[ProspectiveSingleMom]

What have people's experiences been with doing a homestudy as a single parent? How long does it normally take? (I know it depends on a lot of factors, but I'm just looking to get a rough idea.) Is the process any quicker than for a couple (because of only having to evaluate one person), or does that not make a difference? I'm hoping to adopt an older child (up to age 13) from foster care and plan to use a public agency. Does the process tend to take longer for kids who have been "in the system" for a while?

[cbrink7]

I know in our education course there was a women who was adopting as a single mother, and her homestudy was going along the same as ours (about 3 months on avg.). She was funny, because she is adopting AA and they told her she would be a mom by the end of the year, although she would probaly have her baby in a few months, and she was freaking out! She was too funny about it-she did not think it would take that short of a time, and she was adopting an infant!

I am not sure about adopting form foster care, but that is how our agency was working-no difference between couple and single parents !

Good Luck

[minibus]

It sounds like you are asking two different questions.

To answer your first question, I wouldn't see why a homestudy for a single person would be TOO much different than a homestudy for a couple, unless one person in the couple has a problem with the background check or one person is slower with filling out paperwork, etc. Our homestudy took about 2 months but it depends a LOT on how hard you try to get all your stuff in and probably even more on the worker who is completing your homestudy.

As far as kids, I would think that an older kid is more likely to be legally free and the workers tend to be less protective of them. At least, that was my experience when I was working in the foster care system.

Best of luck to you!

[ProspectiveSingleMom]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to my first orientation meeting with the public agency in a little over a week, and I am getting VERY impatient to finally get the process started. I have a whole list of questions I plan to ask at the orientation.

[HeidiK]

I am a single woman who adopted twice - and each home study was faster since they only needed to interview me and not a spouse too. Good luck on your journey!