Homestudy redo requests due to PCS

I am not sure what PCS stand for but you HAVE to have a current home study in your home and their usually isn't any special circumstances. At least your current fingerprints and FBI background checks will be good regardless of where you live - until they expire of course.

Ok, moving to the computer instead of smart phone! I am not sure what PCS stands for but you HAVE to have a home study done by an agency in your state. So if you lived in Kansas, Kansas agency would have to do your home study. If you moved to Arkansas, you would have to locate agency in Arkansas to do your home study. Unfortunatley, it doesn't matter if your Kansas home study is still valid (hasn't expired), once you move into another state, it is null and void. It is a major pain for those that have to travel frequently - like military families. The good news is that many of your documents will not have to change - like fingerprints and FBI clearances. Your document gathering should be quick. I would beg your previous agency to provide any documentation to help you out. Good luck. And yes, infant domestic adoption, nothing ever seems to go smoothly. We have been matched and we are down to 6 weeks and progress is crawling - we don't even have match documents yet for our employers. (We have been matched for over a month but having BF issues).

PCS is Permanent change of Station for couples not in the military. Please let me know if I posted in the wrong forum. My husband and I are current averaging a move about every 18 months. I know that is faster than average. Most military couples PCS about once every three years. But as they say there a war on.Ӓ We cannot afford redoing our home study every year or doing a home-study in all fifty states. The agency in KY (Fort Campbell) does not seems to be very helpful due to us moving to Fort Sill (OK). And I fail to understand the need to redo everything again, including fingerprints and FBI clearances plus training classes that we just finished three months ago just because we moved. We are still in base housing and all base housing is the same. Same federal standards and all states are suppose to have "full faith and credit" in each other laws. It really feels like we are being discriminated against due to our status as active military personnel. What is the solution here?

Homestudies are good for your specific residence, they cannot be transferred to another residence. If you were to move 2 blocks up the road that would require a new homestudy. It has nothing to do with being in the military. Also, I'm not sure but I think that FBI clearances and backgrounds checks check your backgrounds based on where you lived. We're currently stationed in CT but because we hadn't lived here for 2+ years when we started adoption they required a state background check for both CT and our previous state of residence, WA. I think about the only thing that could transfer would be your physicals. Such is the life of military families. That's why many of the wives stay behind to finalize adoptions while the hubbies move to the new duty station. If you guys move around a lot you may want to wait till he gets out or ask his command to all you to stay put until you complete the adoption process.

That is just depressing. If we wait until we are out of the military to adopt, then the adoption professionals all tell us we will be too old. My command will not make placement decisions based upon "adoption requests." Placement decisions are only made based upon the needs of the DoD. It's tough enough to just get assigned to the same base. So is the final answer the military don't get to adopt due to the circumstances of our careers? That sure was not explained in the enlistment contract. But thanks for your response.

Sure military families can adopt. Its just going to require more speed and creativity than some other families have to use. For example, it would be better if you worked with a national adoption agency, with offices in all states. They would be much more likely to transfer your home study. (Minus the parts about the actual home and other location-specific items, but those can be handled with an update rather than a whole new homestudy). You can also gather and keep multiple sets of the required documents. The birth certificates, health insurance documents, marriage certificate, everything you needed to provide for the homestudy. If you keep it ready, you can produce it on a moment's notice and avoid most of the paperchase wait. Another thing you can do is get on the phone as soon as you know the location of the next duty station. Locate all the likely agencies, find out timing of any required classes, and be ready to hit the ground running the moment you get there, with the agency that will be best suited to helping you. If you do all that, it's possible to significantly reduce the amount of time it takes you to get licensed. If you can get licensed in a new location within 3-4 months of moving there (because you did so much prep work before the day of the move), then that gives you over a year to wait for a match before you next move. If you have a match in that amount of time but aren't finalized before the next move, you could always remain in the old location with the child to finalize the adoption before moving to join your husband in the new location. Definately more annoying, but not impossible.

Unfortunately, a lot of agencies won't work with active duty military families because of all the moves and deployments. They want to see stability of residence,and they want to be able to provide ongoing post-placement support. You are lucky if you find an agency that will work with you. But you have to understand that you will have to live with the laws that pertain to everyone, not just military people. One of those laws is that your homestudy must be current for the state in which you are living at the time of placement. If a non-military OR military family has a homestudy in one place, but moves to another community in the same state, they will need a pretty major homestudy update, but they can keep the same agency. If, however, the non-military family gets a job transfer to another state, and moves there, they will generally need pretty much a whole new homestudy that addresses the different requirements of the state, the new house, the effects of the move on the family's finances and social support network, etc. Yes, there are costs. And there are annoyances. I like DianeS's suggestions, which can help reduce the costs and the annoyance factor considerably. I know that our servicemen and women are putting their lives on the line and deserve special consideration in many areas of life. But adoption is about the best interests of children. Adoption agencies MUST focus, first and foremost, on ensuring that any child that they place will go into a home that meets all state and local requirements. They also must ensure that a licensed agency will be able to follow the family from homestudy to placement to post-placement and beyond, so that the child can be protected if there is any difficulty. I think, as well, that military families do need to be realistic about the impact of frequent deployments and relocations on families and children. Such moves and deployments are not optimal, as any military family with children will probably tell you. And as base chaplains and doctors will tell you, the stress that such deployments and moves place on families and children can be significant. If you do not want to wait until your active duty service is over to have children -- and remember that, nowadays, families adopt on into their 30s, 40s, and 50s (I adopted as a 51 year old non-military single) -- do everything possible to learn about how to keep your family intact and thriving, through deployments and moves. And think of the homestudy process as one that can help you with that learning,for the sake of your child to be. Sharon