When is the right time to do your adoption home study?

Are you wondering when the right time to do your adoption home study is? If you are just starting your adoption journey, you might be struggling to know when is the right time to do your home study and just want to find the order of operations regarding private adoption. Or you might need someone to give you a general overview of the process so you can time things out to make the best use of your time and resources.

Well, that is what we will cover in this blog post. Not only will I share the right and wrong time to do your home study, but I will also give you key details that you need to know about the home study process and how that fits into the overall private adoption process.

When Should I Do My Home Study?

To answer the question of when I should do my home study, the answer would be after you have picked your method of matching, feel like you have enough money saved and are ready for the fees ahead of you, and have picked an adoption profile expert to help you.

Eight Steps to the Private Adoption Process 

The first thing you do is determine what type of adoption you will pursue. The next thing that you want to do is understand the law in your state because you may decide that you want to use multiple methods of matching. And if that is the case, you need to understand if it’s legal in your state, which will impact your adoption home study. The third step in the process is connecting with an adoption financial planner. You need to sit down and understand the way you're going to pay for your adoption so that you're ready for all the steps because what you don't want to do is have your adoption home study started and completed and you're ready to go live, but yet you don't have the financial plan together of how you're going to complete your adoption opportunity when it exists. Because if you go live because your home study is approved, and then you get presented with an opportunity that you can't afford, well, then you have to wait around until you can afford that opportunity or likely another because you'll likely have to pass on that opportunity, which is heartbreaking. So, you want to make sure you have a clear financial plan. It may seem weird, like why do I have to have a financial plan in order to do my home study when you want to maximize the amount of time on your home study. Next, you want to interview adoption partners because you want to pick which partners you will use. For example, if you're going to use an agency, you want to know which agency you will use because different agencies require different home studies. Some agencies require you to use their agency for the home study, so you don't want to go and get a home study created and completed only to find out that it doesn't meet their specifications and you have to do it again. Because then you've just wasted time and money which leads right back to being wise with your resources, your time, and your money. So, you want to make sure you understand the entire process and flow and learn from somebody who's been there and coached 1000s upon 1000s of others through the process so that you really make the best use of that. 

Step number five, finally, you're at the home study phase. That is the right time after choosing your adoption partners to complete and work on your home study. We'll come back and talk a little bit more about that. Because all of you type A’s out there want to know what comes after step five, we can complete this chapter, if you will. So, step number six is you need to understand all of the little nuances that come with each different type of matching. I lovingly call this inside of the private adoption program the blueprint for every method of matching because there are little nuances here or there depending upon if you're working with an agency and attorney, embryo, adoption consultant, surrogacy; whatever it is you have different little nuances that you need to understand there. Step number seven is creating and sharing your adoption profile. Obviously, this is the critical step to matching your adoption. You really want to spend a lot of time getting that right. Then step number eight is matching and then ultimately finalizing that adoption. 

So, there you have the eight steps to the private adoption process to understand where the home study step really needs to occur. To answer the question of when is the right and the wrong time to do your adoption home study, you definitely want to do it after you have picked your method of matching, understand the laws in your state, have your adoption financial plan ready so that you know how you're actually going to ultimately fund your adoption, that you've picked your adoption partners, especially if you're planning to work with an agency, then they are going to have restrictions more than likely on what home study provider you use, and then finally it's time to do your home study. 

3 Reasons Why It Is Important To Do Your Home Study at the Right Time

1.Certain agencies require it to be done with them.

Most of the time, those agencies that require you to work with their partner are not going to allow you to like transfer to a different type of home study, I have on more than one occasion seen someone pop up in my DMs and say, I got my home study done, and now I'm working with this agency, and they require me to do it again. And it will cost me another $3,000 to get it approved. My feedback to them is that it stinks, and there's no way around that unless you don't want to work with that agency. So, it's important that you know why and what's going on at what time.

2. It is only good for a year → pro tip: be ready with your profile to maximize time

The second is an adoption home study is only good for a year. You really want to maximize the amount of time that you have really with that adoption home study. Because if you think about most finalization periods, so that period after you bring the baby home, you're going to have another period where you need your home study to be good before you could actually finalize your adoption. So, you should budget that you're going to renew your home study one time just because of the length of the process of matching and bringing the baby home and then the finalization steps within that. But if you're not careful, you can have to renew it a few more times. And those dollars just add up fast, my friend, it does make a difference.

3. If you move or if people move in/out of your home, you have to redo it

The very third reason why it's important that you do your homestay at the right time is that you want to make sure you're planning ahead for any life events. Life events could be that you're moving or that someone is moving in or out of your house. You really want to think through all of those things because they do have an impact on, again, whether or not you have to update your home study. So, if you move after you've completed your home study, you will have to go back and redo the paperwork and the home inspection. That will actually take you out of being live. Or if you have a loved one move in or out of your home during that time, they’ll have to update the home study, which again takes you out of being live, yet that overall clock is still ticking on that kind of one-year good period for your home study. 

Now that you know when is the right time to do your home study, you might be ready to shift into home study preparation mode. Let’s spend just a few minutes talking about the different phases of the home study, so you know what is ahead.

4 Phases of the Private Adoption Home Study

1.Paperwork

The very first phase of the adoption home study process is paperwork. When I say paperwork, it's a mountain of paperwork. I mean, literally, people will joke like, you know, delivered a 10-pound baby, and I'm like, I delivered 35 pounds of adoption paperwork, like it is ridiculous how much paperwork there is. But my best piece of advice for you when it comes to adoption home study paperwork is just to take it one step at a time and treat it like a checklist. Just do the thing, check it off, do the thing, check it off, and keep moving along.

2. Home inspection

The second phase of the adoption home study process is the home inspection. Literally, someone comes to your house and inspects whether or not your home is safe for a child. 

3. Interview

The third phase is the interview phase. And that's where the social worker that's conducting your home study is going to ask you questions about your parenting style and why you want to adopt, all types of things like that.

4. Post-placement visits

The fourth is post-placement visits. This is the period after the baby comes home but before finalization or your home study. Your social worker is going to come in and talk to you about how everybody's settling in, and how life with the baby is because all of those types of things need to go in that kind of final paperwork that they submit to the court to recommend the finalization of the adoption. 

If you want help preparing for the different phases of an adoption home study, you should check out The Private Adoption Program, where I help you prepare for each step of the adoption process in great detail.  

Need additional help with your home study? I have other great videos focused on home study preparation on my youtube channel. Check out this one where I talk with an actual home study provider about the home study process. 

I know the adoption process might feel overwhelming but remember, I am here to help you every step of the way! I’ll see you soon, friend!

More Helpful Adoption Resources

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Here are a few more helpful resources to help you with your adoption journey!

1. Need to find what type of adoption is right for you? Go to my Pathway Resource. 

2. Want to learn the step-by-step adoption process? Go to my Program for free training. 

3. Need help with your adoption profile? Go to my Profile Training Resource. 

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Hi, I Am Amanda

I am an adoption profile expert on a mission to teach you how to adopt and help you create and share your family's story more affordably!