Nervous

Good luck! Don't be nervous...it's largely chatting. They will likely do a walk through (a diagram of the layout of your house is often included in the homestudy), so make sure your smoke detectors (every floor) are working and that your carbon monoxide detectors (also every floor) are up to date. Water heater shouldn't be turned up very high and vaccinations for pets are up to date. We also had to have 5 lbs fire extinguishers for each fireplace and stove, but I'm not sure that's standard. People have a tendency to be blindsided by the walk through, so I thought I'd give you the heads up. :) They're not looking to see how clean your house is, but a general safety check and to get to know the layout. Hope it goes well! Allana

Actually - we had none of that at our homestudy. Our homestudy was just the social worker coming over and having a chat in our home. We took her on a tour but smoke detectors and such were not discusses. Our entire homestudy was done in 3 parts..1 and 2 were done at HER house - 1 with me 2 with dh...3 was at our home and all of us were together. The homestudy process was absolutely pain free for us. It was more a "get-to-know-you" thing. We did talk about childhoods and stuff, but nothing uncomfortable. I enjoyed our homestudy!

I think I'm less nervous about the homestudy and more nervous about what it means. We'll be one step closer to welcoming another child into our home!!

I made our homestudy out to be worse than it actually was! Once it began, it was a breeze! She talked with us about our relationship, relationships with family, childhood. Our walk through was just that. We told her what we had done in the home and she had a peek at things to make sure there was appropriate space for a child. Everything will be just fine!

For us we had her meet with us together, with each of us seperately (including the children) and a walk through of the house that was totally non-invasive. All together it was about three meetings, although a few were 2 hours long. The interviewing was a bit invasive, but I'd advise you don't worry too much. They want to find people eligible if they are able to, not looking for silly excuses to refuse people (for the most part). Dawn H.

Kay, it really was just chatting. I feel pretty good about it. We'll be doing the next two visits within the week. Thanks for your support!

Awesome Kenzie!