Homestudy Question

CONGRATULATIONS!!! LDSFS does the home visit as soon as all the referral letters from the application have been recieved. They generally give a few days notice. Their main objectives for the visit is to get a more accurate picture of what home life would be like for this child. They also need to identify any possible safety issues. If a house is like a museum, they may have concerns for your ability to adapt to a child in the home. If it is filthy, well then that's not good either. They also need to see how your neighborhood is, are there open canals or dangers outside the home. It is not a white glove test.....FAR FROM IT! My home was a construction nightmare and the "nursery" was my spare room/warehouse storage room. They make sure there is room for a child. A studio apartment may be inappropriate, but that's all I would imagine wouldn't pass. Your house should be in a natural state. I didn't even have time to dust ! (my sewer line collapsed that weekend) You can find my whole report of what happened in the homestudy section of this forum. Keep us posted and if there are any other questions, don't hesitate to post!

Our home study had to be done quickly and I cleaned for 2 days non stop, did everyting top to bottom. The visit was a sit down visit for maybe 5 minuts and a walk through, all she woud say was how cute I had decorated my home. The next visits needless to say I did not try as hard!!!!! Just take the step and do it!!! Good luck! Dee

HI! Congrats on getting sealed! Yeah for you! With LDS FS, it is very easy. They really are just making sure that you have room for the baby. My CW even told me that if you have a one bedroom apartment, as long as there is room for the baby, then it is fine. You do not have to have a nursery or anything ready, in fact some will tell you not to do that because you don't know what the sex of the child will be, the age (unless you specify), or when you will be placed. If you already have the nursery done, it may be a little depressing to look at it every day while you wait. The first thing I did (by the way, I am in TX, not Utah, so things are a little different) was to contact them and they will send you a packet of information. It has some general forms for you to fill out and then info for you to read. After you fill out those forms, you have to decide who will be your references. I beleive there are 3 or 4 references plus your Bishop. They have forms for them to fill out and send into LDS FS. At that point, we went and met with the CW and they gave us the rest of the paperwork and the huge questionaire that they use to create your homestudy profile. Once you have all that filled out (and it takes a while), then you can set up the appointment for the homestudy. Everyone I have talked to says that it is easy and short and to not stress over it to much. The paperwork that you fill out is what they use to create you profile. You will fill out forms about income, hobbies, family, what you look like and what your family looks like, what specific traits you are willing to consider in an adoptive child (like race or culture), etc. You basically download your entire life onto about 50 pieces of paper! It is really not too bad. If you waork at it and are dedicated, it won't take you very long to go through the process and get approved. However, you can take your time also. We wish you the best in your new endeavors. What an exciting time. It can be a bit nerve racking as you basically just hurry up and then wait, but I hoep it goes well for you. Good luck! LBL P.S. There is not too much of a difference if you live in Utah, I just know that my SIL lives there and she had to do a weekly class for 6 weeks or something but we do not have to do that in Texas. I think the main reason is because we are about 2 hours from our office and she is about 15 minutes. :)