Begin the homestudy process

Step 6

A homestudy can loosely be defined as an educational process designed to help your social worker learn more about your ability to parent and provide a stable home, to teach you about adoption and its affect on children and families, and to prepare you to parent a child whose experiences and history are very different from your own. Everyone who hopes to adopt must have a completed homestudy. Depending on the agency, the worker, and the prospective parents’ cooperation, the process can take from two months to a year.


Items You May Need for a homestudy

Specific requirements for homestudies vary by state and agency, so be sure to ask for a list of the items and information your agency needs. The following items are commonly required during the homestudy process:

  • An autobiographical statement — a statement you create about your life history;
  • Certified copies of birth certificates for you, your partner, and any children;
  • A certified copy of your marriage license
  • Certified copies of divorce decrees
  • The death certificate of a former spouse
  • Certified copies of the finalization or adoption decrees for any adopted children
  • Child abuse and criminal record clearances, or a notarized statement from the police declaring that you and your partner have faced no felony convictions
  • Income verification (may include tax returns, W-2 forms, and paycheck stubs)
  • A statement of health provided by a physician, which might include lab test results
  • Written references from friends, employers, neighbors, etc.
  • Finger prints
  • Interviews
  • Many agencies require trainings for prospective adoptive parents prior to or during the homestudy process. These trainings help prospective parents better understand the needs of children waiting for families and help families decide what type of child or children they could parent most effectively.

At some point in the process, you may also need to pay for the homestudy. The cost through a public agency may be quite low or even free; other agencies typically charge between $1,000 and $3,000 for a completed study.


Questions You May Be Asked

During homestudy meetings with your worker, you can expect to answer questions about your background, your education, your job history, your marriage, your leisure activities, your religion (particularly for religiously affiliated agencies), and your experiences with children. For instance, the worker may ask:

  • What is your family like, and how will you integrate a new child into it? How will your extended family treat an adopted child?
  • How is your marriage? How do you make decisions, resolve conflicts, and express your feelings?
  • Why do you want to adopt?
  • What is your home like? Are there places for your child to play or spend time alone?
  • What is your neighborhood like?
  • How do you plan to address discipline issues with your new child?
  • What was your family like when you were growing up? How were you raised? Are you close to your parents?
  • Where do you work? Is your schedule flexible enough to accommodate the responsibilities that come with parenting?
  • What sort of child care arrangements will you make for your child?

The goal of homestudies is to help the agency locate the best home for each child it places, and make good matches between parents and children. If you have questions about the study, ask your social worker or agency.


Next Step


The information on this page is used with the permission of the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC). http://www.nacac.org/