State Home Study

~Tonia~ · 05-23-2005, 10:43 AM

We have just registered with our state to be potential foster parents (hopefully leading to adoption), as there is a child listed that we are interested in. If they contact us for a home study, besides interviewing us, what type of house inspection do they do? We have a very nice house which is very nicely decorated, clean, etc., however, our basement is a disaster. Since it was my husband's grandparent's home before, the basement is still full of their junk, furniture, etc., like I said above, just a disaster. Can someone tell me what to expect from a state home study & how far they go in scrutinizing your home? Thanks!

Calantha · 05-23-2005, 11:42 AM

Basically they are only interested in making sure your home is safe, not spotless

They will want to see all areas of the home that the child will be living in. They never even looked at my basement because it's just a storage/laundry area. It varies slightly from state to state as to what things they check for. Here they checked to me sure all prescription medicines and cleaning products were out of a child's reach, water tempterature was below 110 degrees and smoke detectors worked. Other than that they just did a brief tour of the house. They did check to make sure we had a room set aside for the child and that the room was suitable (I think it was like 40 square feet for minimum size which really is NOT much and basically anything bigger than a closet works, and it had to have a window).
The home visit honestly only took us 10 minutes. Every 6 months they come back and check again since we opted to keep our license open even after Sam was home. They don't tour the house anymore, they just check the meds, cleaning supplies and smoke detectors.. so now it's 5 minutes!

~Tonia~ · 05-23-2005, 11:53 AM

Brandy - Thank you so much for the quick response. You have definitely helped put my mind at ease!

BTW, Samuel is such a cutie.