What You Should Expect During Adoption Home Studies
Posted on: 29 January 2018
People who are planning to adopt a child are often apprehensive when they are told that representatives of the adoption authorities will visit their homes to assess their suitability to adopt a child. Such apprehension may be due to being unaware of what such visits typically seek to verify. This article discusses some areas of interest during the home study.
Family Members' Personal Characteristics
The people who visit your home before an adoption is approved are often interested in interacting with each of the members of your family to know what they think/feel about a child being brought into the home. The visit also seeks to understand the personal attributes of the family members to identify what kind of child would be best suited for that family. For example, the visit may reveal that a reserved/introverted child may be the best fit for your family in case it is found that most family members aren't extroverted or outgoing.
Home Analysis
The visit also seeks to establish how suitable the home environment is for the child that you wish to adopt. For example, is there ample space to accommodate an extra person? Are there any specific features of the home that can pose a danger to the child? Dangerous features may include damaged stairs, large uncovered pits in the yard and pest infestations.
Health Information
You should also expect the officials who visit your home to pay some attention to the health of your family members. Special attention may be drawn to any physical or mental condition that can affect the child that you wish to adopt. For example, the officials may be concerned if any of the family members have a history of being violent due to severe bouts of depression. You may be requested to provide medical records or give permission for those records to be accessed.
References
The home visit may also provide an opportunity for the officials to ask you about your relatives and friends who may be contacted to provide third-party information about you and your family. Those references may be interviewed before the adoption is approved.
How you and your family members conduct yourselves during the visit can impact the outcomes of the visit. It is therefore necessary to get professional help from a family law attorney so that you can be prepared well for that visit. Such a lawyer will also help you to address any concerns that may be raised by the officials who visit your home.
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