What's in the homestudy report?

     Yesterday we got a copy of our agency's homestudy report in the mail. I'm not entirely sure what this means (that the court has approved the homestudy, or if it is just a copy for our records that has no significance in terms of where we are in the court process-- I've emailed our social worker to ask about that), but I thought I would do a quick post about what information is included in the homestudy report. I have shared what our first and second homestudy visits were like, and what can cause the denial of a homestudy approval.  So, if you are still preparing for your homestudy, those posts might be a good place to start. If you are like us and your homestudy is done and you are sitting and wondering "how are they going summarize everything they have just learned about us?" then keep reading!

Mother's Day

     (Just a warning, this post is nothing more than my rambling thoughts)
     This is my second mother's day as a mom. My little guy is napping, my husband is planting some new succulents in our backyard that I picked out a couple of weeks ago (I'd rather have flowers in the ground where I can enjoy them long-term than ones that will be pretty on my table for a few days), and I have had a few moments of quiet to reflect on what mother's day will probably be like in the future.

Research: Are adopted children really at a higher risk for needing therapy and attempting suicide?

    I will return to the blog with something that is both controversial and hard to talk about-- welcome back, right? Between having 6 different family members visit over the past month, a mysterious stomach virus, food poisoning striking our house, and planning a trip back to the midwest to see family, I have been a bit preoccupied! There are no new updates with our homestudy-- the paperwork is on someone's desk in some family court legal office somewhere awaiting approval. So, onto the research!

Research: Adoptees discuss challenges, advantages, and disadvantages of open adoption

      The article I read this morning was fairly recent (2012) and taken from a small sample who gave in-depth interviews. It was titled "Growing Up in Open Adoption: Young Adults' Perspectives." There were only 11 participants, so the information can't be used to establish any type of trend, but they did give interesting details in recounting their experiences. The adoptees were ages 18-23 at the time of this interview, and had all been in an open-adoption situation. These participants all had very different experiences with their adoptions: some exchanged mail once a year, some had face-to-face visits, some of these visits were frequent and ongoing while some had only happened once during childhood, and some talked on the phone while others used social media. This article referred to the biomom as "birth mother," so that is the language that I will use in summarizing the article.

Small, semi-significant update

    My fingerprint fiasco is finally resolved! The online system shows my official fingerprint clearance, so now I just have to wait for the card and paperwork to come in the mail (hopefully Monday update: they were delivered late in the afternoon on Wednesday). Then, I get that to our social worker, she adds it to our homestudy packet, and everything goes to the court system.
  Our state currently has a 6-8 week processing wait time for family court matters, so we should be officially approved to have our profile shown to expectant moms by mid-May to early June.

7 reasons people fail their homestudy

    The homestudy posts (Part 1 and Part 2) have definitely been the most popular articles on the blog, so I thought I would add one more: What can cause you to fail a homestudy (sometimes worded as "being denied" a homestudy approval)? Here is a quick checklist of questions to ask yourself:

1. Are my partner and I physically and mentally healthy enough to raise a child?
2. Are we financially stable?
3. Do we have a safe and sanitary home, with a bedroom that could be used for a child?
4. Are our records clear from any major (or recent) legal issues? 
5. Have we been honest on all of our paperwork?
6. Are we willing to cooperate with any suggestions that our social worker may make? 
7. Are we both committed to adoption, and have we coped with the grief of not being able to have biological children (if that is the situation that has led to adoption)? 

  Most likely, your homestudy will be approved if you can answer "yes" to all of these questions. Read on for more details about these considerations.

What is the purpose of fingerprint clearance?

     Yes, I am still trying to get my fingerprint fiasco resolved. I went down to the state public safety office on Friday and had one of their technicians do my prints to make sure they were done correctly (at their suggestion). But, in the midst of this something interesting has happened: I got in touch with our social worker to give her an update on the continued delay, and her response was "Well, if they come back unclear a third time, you just fill out a form that allows them to use a clean name-based background check as a substitute for a fingerprint scan." Here is why I find this interesting: if that is equivalent, why did I need a fingerprint scan in the first place? What is the purpose of fingerprinting if the name-based paperwork has already come back showing that I have no criminal record?
   That frustration combined with slightly suspicious questions from people who know what we are going through ("Is there a possibility that they keep needing to rerun your prints because something is showing up?") made me think that it might be a good idea to do some research for a post on the purpose of fingerprinting and what will cause you to be denied/fail a fingerprint scan.