Home Study

We just finished our second home visit (we are in Alabama and hope to adopt a child 8 or older).We love our social worker and she assured us the home visits were not a "white glove test". Some things she looked for - running water (not kidding), smoke alarms in the right places, big enough fire extinguishers, all meds locked up, all dangerous chemicals on high shelves in the garage and then, the room where the child will sleep must be ready for him/her (nothing in the closet, bed there, etc.).She looked in every single room and I was grateful for that. She asked some questions of my husband and me together and then separately but they weren't too personal or uncomfortable. Finally, we went over the "Child Desired" form that we had filled out when we started the process. Maybe it's because of the classes but we changed a lot of our answers.We were required to do everything before the home visit - physicals (for the parents only - it's to prove you're healthy enough to parent), fingerprints and all paperwork filled out. No fire dept. inspection (I've never heard of that before). Now, we wait. Every state is different. Our worker has until Nov 5 to get our home study to her boss, and she will likely submit to the state one week later. We hope to hear something in December or January but state workers have a lot of vacation and there are two holidays between now and then so we'll be patient. After we receive approval, we've been told it can take a year or more to get matched but it could be sooner. Our social worker was very honest about the timing. You should talk to yours - they should give you an idea of how long the process takes in your state.Good luck with your process!

Thanks for the input and I wish you the best of luck as well. :)