Home Studies
The home study is a requirement of all adoptions and enables Adoption Partners to assess and prepare each family for adoption. For clients in Maine who utilize our home study services, we will work closely with you to gain a better understanding of your expectations and unique needs. Your social worker will serve as a consistent source of support for you throughout and following the home study process. Adoption Partners offers home study services to both families entering our infant placement program and those contracted with another placing agency.
The home study is the time for your agency to help you prepare for the challenges that are distinct to adoptive parenting. To supplement your home study, we will also help prepare you through our adoption education. This stage is considered the first stop along the adoption journey and requires you to open your hearts and home to follow the path towards parenting through adoption. You will be glad you did.
What exactly is involved in a home study?
In order to be considered eligible for adoption, all prospective parents must complete a home study. A home study is a detailed review of your lifestyle, personal history, finances, available supports, and challenges overcome. There is no recipe to “pass” a study or to have the perfect content in your home study – it’s not a test. It’s an assessment of your family that allows an agency to have full confidence that a child placed in your care will be joining and developing a permanent attachment to a healthy family. There is no magic amount of money in your bank account, jobs on your resume, or name brands on your towels. During a home study, your social worker will be getting to know your family, and helping you paint a picture of your family and how an adopted child would fit into it.
A home study contains a biography of both parents, background checks, driving records, a financial statement, family history, medical reports, documented adoption education, and more. It involves several interviews with any adults living in your home and at least one interview with a personal reference. Preparing the materials to begin your study may take several weeks, and the study itself will likely take 10-12 weeks to complete. Completing a home study is much like eating an elephant – you have to do it one bite at a time. At Adoption Partners you will have a licensed social worker supporting you throughout the process, and helping you to break it into manageable pieces. Our staff will help you prioritize the required paperwork and will answer questions that arise as you are completing it.
Once your study is signed, you will be able to use that document to enter our infant placement program, or transfer it to any licensed adoption placing agency. Should you have a different placing agency, Adoption Partners is happy to include yours in the development of your study to ensure it meets everyone’s needs.