The Adoption Home Study
Congratulations on beginning the adoption process! Once you have applied and been accepted by your chosen adoption agency, one of the very first steps is to being your adoption home study!!! 
What Is A Home Study? A home study is basically an in-depth review of you, your family, your finances, and your home environment. Before
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
can approve you to adopt from another country, they need to know something about you - do you meet the requirements, do you have a history of criminal activity or child abuse, are you financially stable, are you prepared for the issues that come with adopting internationally, how do your children feel about the adoption, etc....
General Requirements
There are several general components of all home studies, no matter what state you live in. - An in-person interview and home visit with the prospective adoptive parent(s). In addition, all adult members of the prospective parents’ household must also be interviewed.
- An accurate evaluation of the physical, mental, and emotional capabilities of the prospective adoptive parent(s) and any other adult members of the household.
- A detailed description of the finances of the prospective adoptive parent(s), including but not limited to, income, debts, expenses, and the costs of supporting other members of the family.
- A detailed description of the prospective adoptive parent(s)’ living conditions.
- If applicable, a detailed description of the prospective adoptive parent(s)’ ability to provide proper care for a child with special needs.
- A description of counseling provided to the prospective adoptive parent(s) or plans for post-placement counseling.
- Specific assessment of how the above factors would affect the prospective adoptive parent(s)’ ability to care for an adopted child, the number of children that the parent(s) may adopt, and any restrictions on the children who should be placed with the parent(s).
- A check of child abuse record, and inquiries into substance abuse, child or sexual abuse and/or domestic violence. These checks and inquiries must relate to each adult member of the prospective parents’ household. The results of these checks and inquiries must be noted in the home study.
- If there were any previous rejections for adoptions, or if an unfavorable home study was ever prepared regarding any adult member of the prospective household, explanations must be obtained.
- A criminal history of each adult in the prospective parents’ household – failure to disclose any record of arrest and/or conviction, history of any substance abuse, sexual or child abuse, or domestic violence may result in a denial of the I-600A or the I-800A.
The Home Study Process
Each of the 50 states has slightly different requirements for the home study. The process and information collected is basically the same, but there are a few deviations from state to state.
Once you've contracted with an adoption agency, your home study will begin! If you live near your adoption agency, they will probably provide home study services for you. However, if you live in a different state than your adoption agency (like we do!), your home study will be conducted by another agency that lives in your home state. Your adoption agency can help you select the best organization to do your home study if you are unsure of where to start.
What's First?
- The social worker that is assigned to you will contact you to set up several home visits. You'll need to collect documents to give to your social worker for your home study. Your home study agency will give you a complete list, but some of the common documents needed are medical forms of good health, financial statement, employment verification, tax records, criminal background clearances, certificates of Hague training, proof of insurance, copies of your vital records, etc.. Your home study agency will walk you through each step of the process.
- Once all the home visits have been completed and your social worker has all the backup documents she needs, she will write a 12-14 page home study report. Once it's all finished and approved (your social worker should notarize it), you can send it off to USCIS with your
I800A application.
Another notarized copy of your home study will need to be
state certified
and then
Chinese authenticated
for your dossier!
Hague Training
USCIS requires all adoptive families to take 12 hours of Hague approved adoption training. They want to make sure that adoptive families know the issues involved with adoption and are not going into this unprepared! This training can usually be taken online, which is convenient for everyone. Your home study agency will help you select an organization to take your training from. One of the most common (and the one we used) is
Adoption Learning Partners.
Your agency should also give you a list of suggested courses based upon the child you wish to adopt. For example, if you are adopting an older child, you would be required to take a class on older child adoption.
While You're Working
While you're working on the home study, it's a good idea to be compiling your dossier and notarizing it. Just remember, the Chinese consulates won't authenticate documents older than 6 months, so make sure not to let them expire!
Child Abuse Clearances You will be required to obtain child abuse clearances from every state you've lived in since the age of 18. Every adult in your house hold must do this! This is one of the first things I recommend you start on, since it can often take the longest! 
Below you will find a complete information listing on child abuse clearances from each state. Don't start working on this until you have signed with a home study agency, as they will often need to help you with this step. Note: If you have lived in a foreign country, you will need to obtain child abuse clearances from them! This can be very difficult - speak to your home study agency right away if this is your situation.
Child Abuse Clearance Information
Other Helpful Links:
Summary of International AdoptionWaiting Children Download Adoption Forms Sending a Care Package to Your Child
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