The start of any adoption journey begins with a home study investigation. To adopt a child domestically or internationally, families must first successfully complete a home study investigation and become approved adoptive parents.
Most prospective adoptive parents are very nervous about the home study investigation process. To help calm your nerves ...
- Get information from several home study agencies and find the one that fits your family and your adoption plans best. Have an adoption agency you trust and feel comfortable with complete your home study investigation.
- Work with an adoption agency and social worker who has experience in the type of adoption you are planning (e.g domestic infant, international, special needs)
- Remind yourself that the home study investigation is not only to ensure the safety of a child in your home but to also prepare you and support you as you become an adoptive parent. Be open and honest with your home study agency.
- know that your social worker and adoption agency want you to be successful and are there to help you through the process; before, during and after.
Family Connections, Inc. is a New York State authorized adoption agency who provides home study services for families adopting domestically and internationally. Family Connections is also a primary provider who helps with placement of children from the countries of Belize, Bulgaria, Honduras, Hungary, Jamaica, Pakistan and Ukraine. The agency has been providing services since 1994 and has extensive experience supporting families adopting infants domestically, children internationally, and children with special needs.
Some prospective adoptive parents can be overwhelmed by the paperwork requirements. To help you through the paperwork ...
- Organize: Your adoption agency should provide you with a listing of required documents. Take the list and organize it by who needs to complete the document (e.g. mom, dad, adult household member, reference, medical provider) and when the document needs to be completed.
- Assign Tasks: The home study process is for the whole family and no one person should be responsible for the paperwork. Give each person (e.g. mom, dad, adult household member) their own paperwork responsibilities; assign them tasks to complete (e.g. make medical appointments, obtain bank records, complete adoption questionnaires).
- Prioritize: Your adoption agency should provide you with information regarding the time it takes to complete a task (e.g. it takes 2 weeks to get a fingerprint appointment or it may take a month to obtain a child abuse clearance or getting a passport can take 6 weeks). You can then decide what to do first, second, third, etc.
- Group: Completing the required paperwork in one setting is an impossible task. So once you organized and prioritized, you can divide up the requirements and work on it in groups. For example, one night you contact your references to ask if they are willing to provide a reference, the next day you decide to write your autobiography, then you gather your financial documents, and so on.
- Set Goals and Deadlines: Determine when you wish to complete your home study investigation and then set small goals and deadlines for each task to ensure that you finish your home study investigation within the time frame you planned (of course plan for unexpected paperwork glitches).
- Enjoy: Enjoy the process; it is your first step in your adoption journey and it should be an educational and enlightening experience (not a dreaded process).
Family Connections, Inc. would be pleased to support your family through the home study investigation process or through Primary Provider services. To learn more about our home study and primary provider services, please contact Dan of Angela at 1-607-756-6574 or dan@adoptfamilyconnections.org. You can also click below to receive our agency's adoption magazine Family Connections that contains articles about the home study investigation process, domestic adoption, and international adoption.
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