To quote the great philosopher, Tom Petty:

“The waiting is the hardest part Every day you see one more card You take it on faith, you take it to the heart The waiting is the hardest part.”

You have all this time to fill and nothing to do with it, but there are plenty of things you can do to help you become more prepared for the child or children that will enter your home.

Talk with other adoptive parents Find out what issues they deal with, what parenting methods they use, what... more

We are at the point of the home study that drives most families crazy – waiting.

We started the process back in March. We did our initial interview, filled out the application, signed all the consent forms for our records to be given to the agency, and all the other paperwork that needs to be done.

Hannah has had her health check done, mine has been completed, and I have submitted my autobiography. My husband has a few things to finish yet.

The big hold up has to do with Sammy. If you have an adolescent child in your home who has been involved with... more

You have the choice of using a private agency to do your home study, or using the state agency that is assigned by the program. Some state agencies contract with private agencies to do their home studies. Be sure you ask about this when you have your informational meeting.

There are definite pros and cons to each type of agency. One of the largest differences is money. Private agencies charge a fee for the home study. State agencies generally do not charge any fees, or the fees are covered under the non-recurring expenses section of adoption fees.

Private... more

We had our meeting with the adoption social worker this morning to start our home study. We have already submitted the stacks of paperwork so now is the “interview” process.

This is when the worker comes out to talk to you and your spouse (if applicable). Because we have been through this several times before, we were prepared for the questions and nothing surprised us, but it can surprise many people when it starts. I’ll give you a recap of what we discussed so you will have an idea of what to expect when it’s your turn.

What lead you to... more

Today I have been cleaning because the adoption worker is coming out tomorrow. Now I have been through enough of these to know that the worker is not coming to do a white glove inspection, but my house looks like the inside has been hit by a tornado. We haven’t been home much in the past week, and when I was I was doing something that made a mess, like baking and decorating cakes.

The worker is not coming in to check for dust bunnies, or if all the laundry is folded and hung up properly, but rather to do things like safety checks. Are chemicals out of the... more

In my previous blog I said that I would address the foster care licensing paperwork as a separate blog. The application that I have is fourteen pages long in itself, in addition to all the other paperwork that we need to fill out just to get the home study started.

The licensing checklist also doubles as an informative paper. It lists several different areas of licensing, statutes and regulations and asks that you acknowledge that have read and understand... more

Part 1

As you can tell by the fact that this is a two part blog, the initial paperwork is quite extensive. Here is a continuation of the paperwork that you can expect to fill out.

Releases – if you have worked with any counselors in the past (or currently) the agency may want to contact the counselor and make sure that any condition has been resolved or is currently handled with medication. If the counseling has been related... more

Since our family is going through the home study process ourselves right now, I thought I’d share exactly what’s going on, not just a theoretical version.

We received our application packet from the adoption agency that is doing the home study. It is full of paperwork to be filled out, releases to sign, and other information that we need to provide.

Here is what we have to fill out: The adoption application itself – This asks for general information about residents of the household, contact information, education,... more

Our family is in a similar situation as some of your reading this blog. We are starting our home study process to finalize Hannah’s adoption. Ours will progress slightly differently than yours will, since hers is considered a private adoption, but most of it will be the same.

For us, the first hurdle was finding an agency that is willing to do our home study. Because of the complexities of our case, I sent out e-mails to every licensed adoption agency within a 200 mile radius. Here is what I wrote:

We are trying to get some information... more

Before you take placement of a child, for either foster care or adoption, you must attend training classes to help you prepare for situations you might face. There is no way these classes cam completely prepare you, but they are a start.

There are several different classes, and the classes required vary by state. Your worker will tell you where the classes are held, how many hours you are required to attend and other pertinent information.

Some of the class names are:

Parents as Tender Healers (PATH)

Model Approach to Partnerships in... more