Adoption Home Study: Real-Life Stories

The adoption home study is an administrative hurdle, a personal challenge, and, as it turns out, a tremendous help for adoptive parents.

Whether you're just considering adoption or you've begun to pursue it, you know you'll be in for a lot of personal evaluations. In addition to providing information about your finances and health, you'll likely be required to have a social worker conduct a home study, an official visit that will give your adoption agency more information about you and about how an adopted child would fit into your family. (For more information on how home studies work and how you can prepare for them, see How to Ace the Adoption Home Study.)

You might not relish the idea of having an outsider assess your parenting potential, but adoptive parents who have survived the process report that you have nothing to fear. In fact, it can help you by making you think seriously about what kind of parent you will be before you take on the job full time.