7 Adoption Home Study Horror Stories That We Can Laugh About Now

Does everything have to go wrong when the social worker is watching?

Shelley Skuster May 17, 2015

Starting the adoption process with a home study can be a horror. Parents-to-be want to put their best foot forward with their home study, but let’s face it—sometimes, we slip up. Horror stories come out of even the best planned events. If one thing is for sure in life it’s this: everything changes. Even the best parents falls short and land themselves in a horror story because some things in life are out of control.

Here are seven home study mishaps that families not only survived but can laugh about now.

1. An Unexpected Criminal Record Hold-Up

“My husband had a speeding ticket he never paid when he was 19 years old. The criminal record check caused quite the excitement with our social worker!” - Elizabeth Hunter

2. Pronouncing Names and Cultural Awareness

“I called our pseudo kiddo from our MAPPS class ‘Jesus’ like my Savior instead of ‘Jesus’ the Hispanic name. My worker died laughing…I’m surprised she didn't make a note that we needed cultural awareness training. The first kiddo placed with us was Hispanic.” - Jen Gilmore

3. Bras in the Bathroom

“I left my bras hanging in the bathroom by accident! The guy looked at them, looked at me, looked at them, smiled and moved on.” -Erin Bohn

4. Dog Poops on the Floor

“Our dog pooped on the floor during a home study visit. It was mortifying!” -Randi Malone

5. The Friendly Puppy

“Our 50 pound puppy kept trying to climb the social worker and sit in her lap. She said she was fine, but the look on her face didn't look fine!” -Jennifer Timp

6. Beeping Smoke Detectors

“We changed our batteries in our smoke detector, literally seconds before our social worker walked in the door. Not even a minute into her being in the house, the smoke detector started beeping and we couldn't get it to stop until we took the batteries back out! How embarrassing!” -Cara LeMoine

7. One Question With Different Answers

“When our social worker was interviewing us, she asked how many little ones we were willing to adopt at once. We each had different answers--but answered at the same time! I said ‘three’ and my husband said ‘two.’ Then my husband looked at me, looked at the social worker and said, ‘Umm it's two!’ Our social worker thought it was hilarious! It was the only thing we were on different pages about--funny, but mortifying at the same time!” -Amy Lambert

9. How About You?

Do you have an embarrassing home study story? One that was mortifying at the time, but you laugh about now?

Share it in the comments below!

Shelley Skuster

Shelley is a former award-winning television journalist who traded in suit coats and red lipstick for a messy bun and yoga pants. She's a freelance writer who stays at home with her three daughters who are all ((gasp)) under the age of three and came to her via adoption and birth. She's the woman behind the blog Shelley Writes and she can also be found on facebook and twitter as ShelleySkuster.

Does everything have to go wrong when the social worker is watching?

Shelley Skuster

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