Homestudy

[heartsr4caring]

I am hoping someone can help to ease my mind. I am so scared about the homestudy. I mean of course my house stays clean and I know I have a very stable life, but what all is involved in a homestudy? Does your house have to be like a spotless, magazine looking house? Also I have pets, anyone have any hints on that?

Thanks

[calches]

Oh you are how I was before we had our h/s!!! When we had ours the girl was my age!!!! She was great...we sat around and talked for like 2 hours...granted the talking was the interviews of dh and I but it was SUPER easy!!!!! Yes, my house was spotless and clean...but at the very end she just did a walk through...didn't look in the cabinets or under the bed...

Our pets had to had to be current on the shots...rabies...and so forth...but other than that nothing with them...

Now I know I have heard horror stories about other h/s that didn't go so well...but with ours it was great.

Good luck!!!

[dakotabluebaby]

DON'T WORRY

a lot easier said then done, but the homestudy was really nothing. With your pets, ask if the CW is ok with them and then have them out. We have dogs so we just tired them out a bit so they were extra well behaved. If you are comfortable with your pets and children, they will take your word on it.

DON'T WORRY

[Bree-and-Izy]

Well i spent a while doing homestudies (i'm a social worker) and i'd be happy to answer questions if someone wanted to know something specifically (via PM) but honestly i think people worry more than they have to. just be comfortable and answer the questions as honestly as you think you can. don't say "i don't know" say "let me think" if you haven't an answer ... because there are a lot of questions that you may not have thought of.

a clean house is common sense but don't kill yourself. your sw will have seen better and have seen worse.

i liked pets but i had one family that had a cat that attcked my arm everytime i put it by my side. i would never have held it against them, you know, but it made my job harder. dogs barking interruprt. if you think it would distract you put them away. i know my cats would hide, so blocking them out would make no sense. you might have a dog that's crazy... best to put them out back or whatever. HTH

[heartsr4caring]

Izy,
I can't PM you because I do not have 30 posts yet. But I did have a couple of questions. I have a 1 year old niece so my house is somewhat baby proofed, but do you have any hints on that? Also my dog is not fond of new people.Now she has been around my niece since the day she was born and she is quite protective of her, so I know a child that is here 24/7 will be "her" baby as well lol.But knowing how she is with new people should I have her outside? I have wanted kids for so long, right now I am in a mixture of panic and excitement. I have finally decided on an agency and I have filled out most of the application, just a couple more things to fill out.

[Bree-and-Izy]

hearts: yea i would put the dog outside or in another room. at some point the sw may want to meet the dog. As far as baby proofing goes, your sw will walk through the house with you and in most cases give you a checklist (i.e. no chemicals at kids level, toilet lock, cabinet locks).. it will differ depending on the sw but you'll have guidance and time to get it done most likely. don't worry... i would be panicked and excited too!

[JaniceBrasil]

I was completely panicked about it I had everything spotless and got a cart full of safety stuff, 2 fire extinguishers and an escape ladder (that one is required because we live on the 2nd level of our building). I simi prepared the room with baby items to show we were prepared ect..

basically what they want is to make sure your house inst filthy... basically its a decent place to live they dont care if you have a bit of clutter and everything is not perfect. They just want to make sure you have room for the child and that its a home a child would be fine living in. different agencys require differnet things or they state may i called a head of time to ask what thing we must have and they said the escape ladder, an extinguisher a few saftey items and also that our medication and cleaning supplies be locked up... we just switched out the old door handle in our linnen clothset with a locking one you need a key for... other than that actually it wasnt a big deal at all!

Dont stress im sure you will do fine! I wish you the best!

[heartsr4caring]

Well I am sending the application to begin the homestudy process tomorrow. So I guess it should begin soon. The nervousness is starting to ease up some. My house stays relatively clean and I live in a 3 bedroom house. There is plenty of room here for a child. I have alot of baby items because my one year old neice is always over here. I got a fire extinguisher and some other safe baby items. I do need to lock away my medications and what not but I will do that soon.

[MrsIhde]

Good I'm not the only one! I'm scared to death. I am adopting my cousin's son and I don't even know where to begin. The homestudy is my biggest worry too.

[MenifeeMother]

We foster adopted our daughter and our home study was a breeze. I was worried about it b/c we had just moved into my parents house so there were now 6 people under one roof! But we cleaned everything and safety locked everything and it went very smoothly. I worked for a foster care agency in the past and did homestudies for respite families so I had a good idea what to expect. You have to remember that the SW wants to place this child in a good home and that if have the right heart for this then they will see it. Just be yourself and all will go well

[heartsr4caring]

I finally got the paperwork for the homestudy and got assigned my social worker. I have not heard from her yet though. I am going to go on Monday and get my DMV record and get the fingerprinting done. My printer/copier is on the fritz dell is sending me a new one, so I cant make the copies I need to.I had to go to kinkos and print out 47 pages that the agency sent me for the homestudy. I am so nervous though.

[calches]

Good luck! It is very nervous and exciting!!!!!!!!!!!! Let us know how it goes!

[heartsr4caring]

Just thought I would give a little update. I have almost got all of the paperwork together for the homestudy. I need to meet with the social worker though to have her sign some of the papers. I sent the papers away for the sanitation survey and the fire inspection but I know both of those will pass fine. Im on city water/sewer and the fire marshall was just here at the beginning of the year checking it with something having to do with it being a rental. I already got fingerprinted and I am going for a physical tomorrow. I have all of my references. Believe it or not the nervousness about the homestudy has worn off, now I am just nervous about the waiting time lol.

[shorteelaw]

Hearts- Let us know how it goes!

[heartsr4caring]

Well tomorrow is the big day. My first visit with my social worker. Let me tell you, I am a nervous wreck right now. I feel like my house can't be clean enough. Even worse the person for the sanitation survey called and she was like im going to look in every nook and cranny. So now if I wasnt stressed already, I am majorally stressed now. I keep telling myself that I have my 15 month old neice over everyday. My house cant be that bad, she has yet to get into anything that could hurt her.
Ciara was of course over today as well. She was so funny, there are certain rooms in my house that she hasn't been allowed in up until now, the 2 bedrooms other then her playroom and the kitchen and the bathroom. Well we were cleaning and baby proofing all the rooms so today she had free access to the house so she didnt know what to do. She toddled all around the house following me with her little shape sorter to every room I went. I love that little girl so much. She is truly my sunshine. I cant wait until i have a child that doesn't go home at night. Oh well girls I will let you know how it went tomorrow. Wish me luck.