Getting Started: Initial Questions

The contents of a homestudy are regulated by your state of residence. Some states require more interviews, more paperwork, more inspections, and so on, than others do. There are also ethical, thorough homestudies and, alas, some homestudies that no good placement agency will accept. And if you change your mind and decide to adopt internationally, both the USCIS and the foreign country will also have rules about what must be in a homestudy report and how it is worded.The cost of a homestudy will depend on both your state's requirements for the content and format of the homestudy report, and on factors such as the going rate for homestudy social workers in your state. A complex homestudy will cost more than one in a state that has few requirements. In states with relatively few social workers, agencies will need to pay more to attract them. In states with a high cost of living, social workers will need more money in order to meet their expenses. And in states where the population is fairly low and spread out, so social workers have to drive long distances between the office and families' homes, they will expect compensation for the travel time, as well as for the visit times. All in all, $1,000 is not very expensive for a homestudy. I've seen some going for $5,000. The only way to avoid the high cost of a homestudy is to adopt through your state foster care system. When you do that, the homestudy will usually be free or cheap.If your state allows it, you can do an adoption without a placement agency. You can do whatever your state laws allow, to find a pregnant woman willing to place her baby with you, though the risk of being scammed or having an adoption fall through for other reasons is greater than if you use a placement agency. You will still need to have a homestudy. You will also need an attorney to handle the finalization in court. It is also a good idea, though not absolutely necessary, to have the attorney spend some time advising you about what's legal and what's not during the adoption process; for example, if the pregnant woman wants you to pay the cost of transportation to doctors' appointments, that may be legal, but buying her a car is definitely not. Further, many families use an attorney to screen the pregnant women, in order to identify possible scammers, as well as women whose adoptions will have legal issues that could come up and bite you, such as women who claim that the baby's father is unknown, but a man comes forward later and claims paternity. If the man is shown, by paternity test, to be the father, he or a close relative can petition to adopt the child, and in the absence of any big negatives, he can wind up getting the court's approval to parent, despite all your hard work.While you can certainly do some advertising and networking, if your state allows it, an agency is generally better equipped to find pregnant women thinking of making an adoption plan. Some go out and speak to high schoolers about adoption. Some may have informational sessions in places that are easily accessible for young women of limited means. And so on. Nowadays, there are far fewer women looking to place their babies for adoption than in the past, because of social programs like WIC and Medicaid, ready availability of contraception and abortion, greater emphasis on sexuality education so that teens don't get pregnant out of ignorance, and so on. As a result, agencies spend a great deal on recruiting pregnant women, Obviously, these costs will often get passed on to you; on the other hand, they are usually more successful at finding women who are likely to place their babies than individuals are.As far as agency vs. attorney for handling the placement, I'm not sure that there's all that much difference. Many adoption agencies are headed by attorneys, for example. Agencies are usually larger, and may have deeper pockets when it comes to helping you find women wanting to make an adoption plan. Agencies may also be doing a lot more outreach than attorneys, and may have more people on staff to help deal with issues that don't involve lawyers. Still, many people still use attorneys successfully. Sharon