Home studies

This topic is probably one of the most stress inducing topics of the pre-adoption process. First and foremost, it's important to remember that social workers are not looking to 'rule out' homes -- they are looking to make sure that homes are safe and if, for whatever reason, they believe that a home is unsafe, it is their job to point out the issues and work with their client to get the matter resolved in a manner that is satisfactory for everyone involved. Agencies and the social workers that are hire to facilitate the steps of the adoption process are hired to complete a service -- in the case of the homestudy, that is to ensure that the home is safe for a child, when the child comes to live there. I am almost certain EVERY adoptive parent or foster parent can share one more more issues (as minor as they may be) that their worker pointed out as needing to be addressed. It's really not a huge deal. Now, what are they looking for? They want to make sure your home is safe. Medication kept in a safe place. Firearms (if allowed) are secured. Pools and spas are secured. Things like that. They're also looking to ensure that you have space needed for another person(s) in your household. Plenty of rooms, beds, square feet, etc. I've heard some report that a worker will check the temperature of the water coming from the hot faucet. They're looking at the interaction between family members, how the children (if there are existing children in the household) respond to their parents and if they're old enough, their thoughts on the adoption. Obvious things like cleanliness are observed. They may look in cabinets, under beds, in closets etc. When we had our homestudy to foster, it was very easy going. We'd already gotten to know our social worker and we'd had to address some issues that came up in our background, before getting to the home study step -- so we had a good working relationship. She came up, took a look around, sat at the kitchen table and talked to us for a little while. She asked us to show her where the children would sleep and store their belongings and then asked us to show her where our property line was (we lived in rural Illinois) so that she could be sure there were no bodies of water that needed to be addressed. We talked about keeping medications locked up and the possibility of having to keep knives locked up, should a case require it. One thing that I didn't think of, but thinking back now, makes perfect sense: we offered her cookies and a beverage -- she declined and said she wasn't allowed. I guess it's the world we live in now. Oh, we also talked at length about helping parents work their cases, being supportive of reunification and being supportive with the kids. We were FOSTER ONLY so our goal was to be a short term place for kids to come while their parents worked through their issues. Overall, I was way more freaked out about it than I should have been...but at least I went in to it feeling good about our home and our level of preparedness.

That doesn't sound nearly as scary as it usually does. Thanks!