$ and Home Study (What will I worry about next?!)

My husband and I adopted on his one income (he's active duty military, enlisted...not a lot of $$$ and I'm a stay at home mom), we did own our home but we bought it with 0% down and had no equity, we probably had only one month's salary in the bank. We did have excellent credit, and we did have a good debt to income ratio. THAT is what they want to see. Do you make enough money to provide for your child on a monthly basis? Do you have a good history of being responsible with your money? Will you be able to provide a child adequate health insurance? Yes, they looked at our bank statements and credit report. But it was no big deal.

Thanks for the information Saj, becky, and Cjmeck. I am indeed a single woman adopting. Here's my situation: I have an excellent credit score (not sure of the difference between credit rating, credit score, fico score) - 763 I believe. I've owned my own business for the last 23 years - that is the source of my income. I believe I can show that I can afford a new baby in terms of monthly expenses and monthly income. However, I have very little put back for emergencies. I have only $4200.00 in savings. I rent - I do not own a home. I don't really have any assets to speak of. (That sounds so pathetic, writing it out like that! I opened my business when I was 17 years old, and was in college/graduate school all the way until 35 years old when I earned my Ph.D. Those were such busy, whirlwind years, with running the business alone and being in college and also teaching undergraduate college courses for graduate tuition - I just didn't even focus on buying a house, acquiring assets, etc. Now I see that was a mistake.) But anyway, I would be interested in hearing people's thoughts on the money situation, with the added information above. I hope my choices as a young adult won't keep me from adopting now, when an expectant mom has picked me :( . (The baby is due February 23.) But if that's likely, I want to be prepared and not caught off-guard and crushed emotionally!

Everyone's different, but the focus on ours was that we pay our bills on time and can afford to pay them and that we can afford the cost of having a new baby in the home. They didn't look at our finances with a microscope, but they did want to know that we could afford the new addition. The social workers are rooting for you...they want you to be approved. For us it was a positive experience.

Just wanted to add one more thing. We didn't even have any money to adopt! We had the cash we needed for the homestudy but that was it. When the SW asked how we planned to pay for the adoption, we had to tell her that we were going to get a loan. I don't think she thought it was ideal, but it didn't stop us. The fact that your credit it great and you have enough monthly income to support yourself and your child is what they want to see. They don't care that you don't own a house. Like I said, we owned ours technically but we had absolutely no equity, no real assets whatsoever. To top it off, neither dh nor myself ever completed college. I was terrified of the homestudy. But like everyone said, they are looking for ways to approve you. Yes money makes it easier to parent, but it is not the whole picture of what makes an ideal parent. The SWs know this :)

You have a heck of lot more than I did when going through the process--and I was adopting from Guatemala which was a guaranteed expense of $30,000 for the country fee. My daughter has been home for more than 2 years. Relax. You sound good to me. The home study isn't really that big of a deal. A hoop.

Okay...my heartbeat is starting to return to normal! I'm feeling better about it. I wish I could just get the homestudy going and get it over with so I could quit this constant worrying! :eek:The baby is due February 23, and my birthday is February 24. That would just be such an awesome thing - I think it has me thinking that this would just be so perfect (I never even thought I would be allowed to adopt a newborn, as a single mom), that it seems almost too good to be true, and I latch on to every possible roadblock like I'm just sure something is going to stop this from going through. I have a newfound respect for all adoptive moms who have undergone this waiting/wondering/worrying - it's almost impossible to explain what it feels like to someone who hasn't gone through it.

You should be just fine! Renting/owning doesn't matter at all. We lived in military housing when we started our adoption process and our social worker didn't even blink an eye. :) We had very little debt at that time which was definitely a plus. We too are a one income enlisted military couple and we adopted our son within a year and a half of starting. Good luck! :flower:

I guess I forgot to mention - I do have a lot of debt. About $60,000. But I've never missed a payment, hence the high credit score. I don't know how they'll view that debt. So many unknowns!

First, congrats on the match! I think just about everyone here had at least some anxiety regarding the homestudy. I know I was a nervous wreck. You should be absolutely fine - social workers generally want to approve you. FWIW, in NC they didn't check our credit report or ask to see any bank/savings statements. We had to fill out a sheet listing our monthly income and expenses (which included any debt payments). As long as we had enough money left over to appropriately care for a child, we were fine. We didn't have a ton saved in the bank ($10,000) and only a few thousand in equity. They never even asked how we planned to finance the adoption (we ended up using primarily an adoption loan). Every state is different, every social worker is different, and every agency is different. They realize that parents who have biological children don't have to go through any of this and aren't looking for perfect parents. Good luck to you! You'll be fine :flower:

I just wanted to say that this was a concern for us, too. I was stressed about it and I asked the SW, so I could find out if we were even qualified before we started paying the money for the homestudy. What she told me was that our agency required only that you brought in more cash than you spent each month. They wanted the last tax return, but the rest of it was just on the honor system. We estimated expenses and listed the bills we paid and then subtracted the total output of expenses from our income. No big deal. No one ever questioned us about it and we didn't make too much more than we were spending and don't have that much in savings, especially now that we are paying for the adoption. So, try not to worry too much about it. If you have a nice SW, the HS will be a breeze.

Our social worker requested our tax return for the last 2 years along with the last months bank statement and a paystub... she did a cursory look I think more to verify the information we had written down, and that was it. There was never a huge discussion about our finances, savings, debt etc... I know its hard not to worry about it all (been there 3 times, did that 3 times) but all in all the homestudy is really painless, I think I spent more time worrying about all the IF's than the whole process took ! ;) Good luck gina.

I'm in Texas. The agency that I was thinking about going with had sent me the materials for a home study through them, and they did require 3 back years of tax returns, plus a year of bank statements. I'm not sure if the requirements could be different with an independent home study person the way I'm going now with a private adoption (my lawyer is gathering me some names to choose from) even in the same state, or if the financial records required may be different since it's not an agency home study. And is there any way to make sure you're getting a nice social worker? (Like midnighttang mentioned - the process is so much better if you have a nice SW!) I'm going to research the individuals that my lawyer gives me to choose from for the home study, but it's not like there's a rating or review system for home study social workers! (Wouldn't that be great if there were?) Does anyone know if there is any way at all of finding out a little about the nature of potential adoption home study social workers? (And thanks everyone - I know nothing is for certain, but the feedback you are giving me is really helping me not to completely tear my hair out!)

Our social worker didn't look at bank statements or credit score. We had to provide a brief summary of income, expenses, and assets. We also rent our house and had very little savings at the time of our home study. I know it's natural to stress about all this stuff, but if you search the forums for posts about home studies, you'll find overwhelmingly that just about everyone says it went so much easier than they expected. :)

I hate having the money part scrutinized!! We have three kids, so we don't have much in ways of "extra" cash floating around, such is the case with kids ;) But we would be able to afford another child, and all of the potential costs that come with another child. REALLY hoping they look at that, not the amount in savings!! ;)

Well cool. Maybe this will work out after all. (I looked for a smiley with fingers crossed, but there isn't one!)