[ladybard]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and we're in the very beginning process of adoption. We've considered both domestic public adoption and international adoption and are leaning toward international for several reasons.

My question here pertains to the homestudy. Is there a difference between a homestudy done for a domestic public adoption (say through our local DSS) versus a homestudy for an international adoption?

The reason I ask is that there may be a distant reason for us to consider a domestic public adoption (family member) but it isn't something that has even been discussed beyond my husband and myself. The chances are probably more than 50:50 that it will never come to fruition, but I didn't know if we should be doing a homestudy with our local DSS just in case. On the other hand, if it's not something that can be carried over to an international adoption, it may not be prudent for us to even go down that path.

Thanks for any feedback you may have for us.

[sak9645]

There is definitely a difference between a homestudy for international and domestic public adoption.

While the domestic homestudy needs to satisfy only the state, the international homestudy must also satisfy the requirements of the USCIS and the foreign country of the family's choice.

As an example, the USCIS has very specific language that must be included with regard to domestic violence, child abuse, and substance abuse. The homestudy report must say that the social worker asked the prospective parent about each of these items, and must quote his actual answer.

Foreign countries often have "hot button" items that must be addressed. As an example, the homestudy report for a single person adopting from China must address the issue of sexual orientation and clearly state that the person is heterosexual. China is extremely opposed to adoption by gay and lesbian people.

Of course, a domestic homestudy can be updated if an international situation presents itself, or vice versa. It would depend on the requirements of your state and of the country of your choice whether the update would be relatively minor or significant enough to be almost like a new homestudy.

Sharon

[ladybard]

Thanks, Sharon. That's what I was wondering. Most likely we will just stick with our original thought and go with an international adoption but the thought just crossed my mind this morning about the homestudies.

I may call my local DSS just to find out how difficult it would be to convert from one done for an international adoption to one for a local adoption. It almost sounds like the international adoption process is actually more detailed, so it may be easier to go that way anyway (easier being a relative term here ).

Thanks again for the info. I appreciate it.

Ana

[teranga]

Hi Ana,
I looked over our homestudy, done for an adoption from Ethiopia in Feb.2005, and we don't have anything in it which states anything at all about domestic violence, substance abuse, or child abuse. Nor is there a single quote from us in the entire homestudy. I don't know whether perhaps those requirements are state requirements and not USCIS requirements, or what...but our homestudy was approved and our adoption moved forward with no hiccups without anything like that. It basically stated that in her opinion we would be great parents to an adopted child, and gave some background info. on us. Ethiopia did require a section on how we would preserve our child's history and certainly other countries have other requirements, so you'd need to know what country you are choosing (if you do go int'l) before the homestudy can be completed, but I'm not so sure our homestudy is very different at all than a domestic homestudy would have been...

[ladybard]

Thanks, Teranga. I haven't had a chance to check with our local DSS yet, but I will ask them a little more when I do to see how much difference there might be. I'm sure they must have had some people in the past who have either changed their minds and gone from a domestic to an international adoption and vice versa.

Thanks again for the input. We're thinking of a Guatemalan adoption but we're still in the process of deciding on an agency (I've been PM'ing people on that board). Once we know which agency we're interested in, I'll get a better idea of what the homestudy will involve.

[sak9645]

Teranga, I'm surprised that your homestudy report did not contain the items I mentioned.

Because of a previous professional affiliation, I became somewhat familiar with the homestudy requirements listed in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), and with the training given in such matters by the USCIS to the staff who approve I-600As.

The information I gave comes straight from the CFR -- you can see it at http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/R...nsStatute2.pdf -- and was discussed at a USCIS training session I sat in on a few years ago.

Many inexperienced social workers have had homestudy reports sent back for rewriting when the USCIS felt that they did not cover the substance of what is required, OR when the USCIS felt that they did not word their findings correctly.

As an example, the social worker is supposed to check the state child abuse registry, if one exists, to see if there is any record pertaining to each adult member of the household. If no record is found, or if there is no registry, the homestudy must say so. If anything is found, it must be discussed fully.

IN ADDITION, the social worker must formally ask each adult member of the household if he/she has had a history of child abuse, even if it did not result in an arrest or conviction. The social worker must specifically record each person's answer to the question.

It is possible that your agency created two versions of your homestudy report, one for the USCIS and one for the foreign country.

I've seen a letter opinion from the USCIS to an adoption agency, addressing the agency's question about whether it could mention a long-ago DUI in the homestudy report sent to the USCIS, but omit it from the version sent to a country known to be very intolerant of any history of alcohol abuse, even if in the distant past.

The USCIS said very clearly that this practice was NOT allowed, because it would put the U.S. government in the position of misleading foreign countries about the qualifications of families. However, I suspect that some agencies still are still using this approach when there is a piece of information that does not really affect a person's ability to parent, but that might be viewed negatively overseas.

Also, some countries may want a very brief homestudy report, so that they don't have to translate and go through lengthy documents. This may lead some agencies to create a summary version of the homestudy report for those countries. I don't know Ethiopia's specific requirements, or what the prevailing agency practice is in such a case, so I can't tell if you saw some sort of summary document.

Sharon

[snvanvl]

Our homestudy was also done in Febuary 2005 for a Ethiopian adoption and ours does not have any quotes either. We were asked the questions but they were not mentioned in our homestudy. Our adoption was completed in August with no problems.

Christy

[hjdeth1]

Many SW, mine included, make an Addendum to the homestudy that is specifically for USCIS and is not included in the homestudy I received and sent as part of my dossier. I would never have known except that I was headed to do my fingerprints the same time the homestudy was completed so hand carried mine to USCIS.

This may well be the case with others.