• Precertified
• The Day Of The Homestudy
• Requirements

Precertified

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 3:01 PM
Subject: What is "Precertified"?

Hi everyone,

A while back I posted a question about being precertified and what it means. Nobody responded. I asked somebody at the agency we are working with (in NY state), and below is her response. Thought I'd let you all know. :)
What is precertified?

It has to do with private adoption and taking your home study to court to get it certified makes it's valid for private adoption for 18 months as opposed to 12 months with us. It is a benefit if you are doing private adoption along side us. If not your home study is good for 12 months with us regardless.

The Day Of

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 7:49 AM
Subject: My Homestudy

All I can do is tell you my experience with both our caseworkers (our first decided not to come back after maternity leave).

The first time we met, our caseworker knew that I was taking off from work so baking was going to happen. I dressed up a little more....skirt and sweater, but dh was coming right from work and he was in construction with his own business so he came in let's just say not the cleanest, yet presentable. He was even a couple minutes late, but that was okay it gave her some time to talk to me.

I was told not to worry about the child proofing at this point which I didn't, but that depends on the caseworker.

Since I did get home about an 1hr before I did lite a couple candles, the ones that I always burn so if she noticed them she realized these were the one I burn all the time not just to make a good appearance.

My 2 labs always have run of the back yard if they are not inside so that is where they were (my youngest is ADHD so he is a spaz until he gets bored with the new person and I didn't want to take a chance) but the cats continued for all our visits to have run of the house.

I did buy some type of baked goods like cookies or a coffee cake for each visit and always offered something for them to drink. For them it was water for both they chose, but I would have a little something on hand like coffee or pop just to be safe.

As stated before the big thing is be yourself. I can tell you that every visits after the first I wore jeans and a nice shirt and realized that would have been fine for the first visit too. Jim only twice was actually dressed nice because of work and that was fine. I would say something to the caseworker ahead of time and she would always tell me that was perfectly fine because he has a business to take care of and this is during the day. In the end we found out was that what this showed was that we will have the ability to do what is needed for the child even though we both work full time. Just because Jim does have his own business doesn't mean he can't be there when needed. I wish you the best.

Hope this helps

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 7:39 AM
Subject: My Homestudy

I cleaned my house like a mad woman but in all honesty, your normal weekly cleaning will be fine. My social worker even told me "don't go crazy cleaning on my account" because I guess she's so used to people doing it. All they want to know if that you're good people with a decent environment for a child - they won't be doing any "white glove" tests or looking to try to find dirt. I wouldn't go crazy trying to make your house cozy - most people's houses already are plenty so.

Having a choice of beverages available would be good. Having some kind of treat available would also be nice - she might not eat, but it would be a nice touch to have something to offer. Something like banana bread or fresh baked cookies. Both would also make your house smell awesome. On the drinks, coffee, tea and soda should be fine. Maybe get some decaf coffee just in case she prefers that. I served my social worker lunch, simply because noon was the best time for her to meet with us and I didn't think it would do any of us any good to chat while starving. But even then I went low key - picked up some tuna & egg salad from a local deli and served with fresh fruit salad (also purchased). It was simple but she was appreciative of the gesture.

One tip on the candles - maybe burn them before she comes over, but not while she's there. As someone with allergies and asthma, sometimes scents are fine and other times they trigger a reaction in me and my chest tightens up. A lot of people are allergic to smells, so I'd try to go easy on candles or sprays. But if you bake something, the house will smell so yummy you won't need any other scents anyway.

I'd also say "business" casual for your visit. You want to look respectful, but also be comfortable. Nice slacks or chinos and a sweater would be fine. Your dh could do Dockers and a collar shirt.

One thing I can tell you for sure - it will not be nearly as bad as you think and she won't scrutinize your house like you think. Our social worker spent all of 5 minutes looking through our house - she really was mostly just interested in where the baby's room would be. She really just glanced at rooms rather than spending any time in them. So, I know it's easier said than done, but try not to make yourself crazy. Your normal weekly cleaning (assuming you're not a slob - LOL!) will be fine, and other than that, just be yourselves.

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 7:07 AM
Subject: Our Homestudy

We didn't do a three days worth of cleaning - just our normal weekly vacuuming, dusting, straightening, bathroom and kitchen cleaning the day before she came.

The morning of her arrival hubby and I were at a meeting at church so I didn't do any baking or burning of candles since we knew she'd be getting here right as we were pulling into the driveway. But I sure wanted to have the house smelling nice when we came back so I sprayed apple-cinnamon air freshener and carpet freshener right before we left the house.

We wore clothes that would be considered "business casual"... hubby wore slacks and a long-sleeved polo shirt and I wore a turtleneck and slacks (we live in the DC area and our visit was in the winter). We didn't "serve" anything but we did offer her something to drink and she accepted.

We have a dog (cocker spaniel) who is great around people but since not everyone is a dog person we kept him in his crate in the living room where we thought we would all sit to talk... this was fine until the homestudy person started oooohing and aaaaahing over the dog and asked if he could come out and play.  Luckily our dog has been thru obedience training and has good manners otherwise having an ill-behaved dog running around might have been a real problem.

An important piece of advice to pass along is to be sure that you two are comfortable... if you're not comfortable in your clothes, you'll be fidgeting... if you're not comfortable with how "clean/tidy" your home is, you'll be glancing around the room as you're listening.  Another important piece of advice... be yourselves. They're not looking for perfection for if they were, they'd never have foster/adoptive families.... right? ;-)

Hope that helps!

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 10:39 AM
Subject: Homestudy after placement

Our homestudy took about a year, but there were several outstanding circumstances. 

We couldn't find our birth certificates, so we had to re-order them from different states.  That took a while. 

When we send copies of papers for the homestudy, they were "misplaced" and we had to get new copies.  (We learned a valuable lesson here!  NEVER give away your originals!) 

THEN, the state lost DH's fingerprint results....another wait.....and finally when it came time to actually meet with the homestudy worker and the fire and health inspector, we had a HUGE snowstorm the night before that held things up. 

The social worker and the fire inspector did come out, but the health inspector did not....which meant I had to arrange for another day off of work so that I could be home for him to come out, etc......  After that was the wait to have the homestudy written, given to the adoption specialist, who then gives it to her supervisor, who then gives it to the administrator.

There's a lot of red tape when you go through the state.  I have often heard of homestudies taking 6 months to a year.  But again, that is generally when the State is completing the homestudy.  We used that option because it was free.  We could have had a private agency do the homestudy, but it would have cost around $1500...if I'm remembering correctly.  So, we opted to have it take longer and be free than to rush it and pay.

Home Study Requirements

Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 6:04 PM
Subject: Homestudy after placement