The Homestudy

One of the biggest parts of the adoption process is the home study. When I began the process, the agency I was working with did not do the home study and gave me a few suggestions on places to contact. I chose Independent Adoption Center (IAC). Since it was an outside agency, the costs were not covered in the Phase I fees I had already paid to my adoption agency.  Once I set them the initial payment, they sent me a packet full of paperwork to fill out. Since my twin brother was living in the house with me, he also had to complete a lot of paperwork. We both had to be live scanned, complete a physical that included an updated TB test, show proof of CPR certification, copies of birth certificates and social security cards, and get our driving records. Since I was the adoptive parent, I also had to send my most recent tax return, as well as most current pay stubs, and bank information. Once all of this was completed, I was contacted by a social worker for my first interview. We met halfway between our two houses at a local coffee shop. I had no idea what to expect and remember feeling so nervous driving over the Bay Bridge.

I arrived at the coffee shop and found the social worker sitting outside. She introduced herself and then it was mostly me talking for the next 2 hours. She asked me about everything:  my childhood, my past and present dating life, my career, why I wanted to be a mom and why I chose adoption. I had to go into great detail about my fertility issues as well as my choice to be a single mom. There were points where I felt a little uncomfortable–sharing such personal things…. basically my life story with someone I had just met. She also asked me a lot of questions about my choice to adopt a child of any race or gender. I am 100% caucasian,  and she questioned me a lot about raising a child of a different race…. If I am being 100% honest, she really made me feel like I was not capable of providing the best environment for a child of a different race. I had actually changed my profile for a while after meeting with her (to 50-100% white only), until I was finally able to share with my agency’s social worker my feelings. She assured me that I did not need to worry and made me feel much better. My heart felt so much happier when my preference went back to any race.

After the first interview, we scheduled the home visit. For this one, my brother needed to be present so that she could interview him separately. There was also a home study checklist of things that needed to be done in your home before your home study is approved. Some of these things included: working smoke alarms in every room, carbon monoxide monitor, fire extinguisher, first aid kits, locks on medicine/liquor cabinets, all medicine locked up at out of reach of children. I also had to fill out a report much like when you are selling your home, describing total square feet and all other house information. The visit was scheduled for 2 hours. She interviewed my brother first (and made me leave the room) and then interviewed me again, and completed the home inspection before she left. Before she left, she told me that I had passed the home study and that now she would do the write-up and send to the state to approve me to bring a child into my home. That process took about 2 months, and then I was officially clear to have a child living in my home. The home study was current for a year, and then had to be “updated”… Updated basically meant writing another check to the agency, being live scanned again, and a follow-up interview if my living situation had changed.

When it came time to do my update the second time, I contacted the IAC and sent in my payment. They scheduled a social worker to come out and meet with me on a Saturday morning. The Thursday morning before that interview, I was at the gym and looked up at the TV screen. Channel 7 news was showing a story with the headline “International Adoption Center goes bankrupt and closes doors”… I turned my music off and plugged my headphones into the machine to hear the report on the news. I watched as people cried through interviews saying they were already matched with a family, and now everything was lost (including their money). I received a voicemail later that morning from the woman who was supposed to interview me. She said she was an independent contractor with the IAC, and would therefore not be able to conduct the interview. I was unable to get my money back and now had an “expired” home study. Since I was not feeling super confident about being chosen any time soon, I did not rush to find an agency to complete my update. Now fast forward to May 9 when I received that call… I needed to figure out who would be able to do my update and quickly!

Not only had the IAC gone bankrupt, but many of the client files were missing. Again, I was so lucky to have only done my home study with them, as many other families were losing out on a whole lot more. Not only a lot of money, but many of them had pending adoptions that did not go through. I cannot even imagine the pain and anger they must have felt. Although my situation was different, if I could not get my original home study, that meant that I would have to start all over instead of just an update. This would inevitably have meant that I would not be done in time for the birth. I called the DOJ in Sacramento and was on the phone for hours trying to find out if my file was there. Once I determined it was there, then I needed to get it to the agency completing the update as soon as possible. I was lucky enough to work with an amazing family owned adoption agency who were willing to take on my case and get the update done as quickly as possible.  I paid to have the file overnighted to them in Santa Cruz and they gave me the list of things to complete and send them in the next 3 days: updated TB tests and physical for both my brother and I, as well as updated livescans (this was our third time), a letter from my vet saying the cat was “child friendly”, another home inspection, and face to face interviews with both my brother and I… The next 3 days were a whirlwind. Again, my brother was such a trooper as were our doctors. They got us in as quickly as possible and we got everything done and sent in time. We even drove to Santa Cruz to do our interview on the weekend. My update was finished, sent to Sacramento, and approved before I left on the airplane to get my sweet baby.