Adoption Question

patchen30 · March 2010

I know I could ask this on the adoption board, but I am so ignorant about this process I don't want to say something stupid and figured some of you girls are pretty knowledgeable too.

I always hear about the adoption home studies, and I have a friend who tried to adopt but was denied b/c she and her DH live in a 1 bedroom apt. While that may sound crazy to you, they live in NYC where the cost of real estate is OUTRAGEOUS and lots of people have babies in 1 bedroom apts. and then upgrade when they can.

Does anyone know what they're really looking for with these home studies? For example, would you be a "bad candidate" if you rented, rather than owned? Again - we live in NYC and cannot afford to buy anything yet (talking upwards of $800K for a 2 bedroom). We're maybe moving from a 1 to 2 bedroom.

I'm just curious btw - I want to educate myself in case we should go the adoption route.

Amy720 · March 2010

Home studies are not as scary as most people think they are. I've never heard of anyone being turned down. I know in foster to adopt they like the child to have a separate rooom, but I'm not sure in Domestic or International Adoption. We had to fill out a lot of paperwork and the SW came 2 times to our house and looked around. She wanted to see where the baby would sleep and noted the number of rooms and how big our house was. Our house didn't have to be babyproofed yet or anything.

I wish I could answer your question better. I would think the things you mentioned would have to be taken into consideration. Where I live, we have a 2800 sq ft., 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath house on 6.8 acres and we built it on land my parents gave us for $185,000. It's much different here in GA than in NYC.

I would try to just ask around and see what the requirements are for a home study in your area.

AuburnBride06 · March 2010

I guess it could depend on the social worker that does the home study, but we were told from the beginning that they are looking to make sure you can provide reasonable space to accommodate a child and that it is a healthy, hygienic and safe environment and are not looking for reasons to disqualify people. Maybe that social worker was more stringent?? Our house technically only has 2 bedrooms, but it is the 3 bed room floor plan. We just have a larger and more open living area.

I would actually post over on adoption and see what the experiences are of the ladies who may live in NYC in small apartments. In your friend's home study, did they actually state that the size of the apartment was the reason for the denial? I know our SW will include our square footage when she writes it up.

koda927 · March 2010

We just went through our homestudy last month and it's not as bad as what people think. They pretty much just told us that they are not there to deny us but rather to just to make sure we have doors, windows, rooms. Nothing dangerous. Every agency will probably be different so just ask around. Good luck

patchen30 · March 2010

AuburnBride06:

I guess it could depend on the social worker that does the home study, but we were told from the beginning that they are looking to make sure you can provide reasonable space to accommodate a child and that it is a healthy, hygienic and safe environment and are not looking for reasons to disqualify people. Maybe that social worker was more stringent?? Our house technically only has 2 bedrooms, but it is the 3 bed room floor plan. We just have a larger and more open living area.

I would actually post over on adoption and see what the experiences are of the ladies who may live in NYC in small apartments. In your friend's home study, did they actually state that the size of the apartment was the reason for the denial? I know our SW will include our square footage when she writes it up.

I don't really know the reasons specifically...I just know it was a problem that they had a 1 bedroom. They owned their apt., and bought it at the height of the mkt and are now underwater and can't sell. They've had 2 unsucessful IVFs and a m/c, so it's really a sad story. I hope something turns out for them soon.

QuiltingBee · March 2010

I'd be interested to hear about the renting vs owning part. If you find out, would you mind letting me know? He don't live in NY but we do live in a fairly HCOL area, and buying isn't an option for us right now. We're renting a smaller, older home.

Makinroom4baby · March 2010

I'm thinking your friends were denied for more than just having a 1 bedroom apt. It could have been that they have the 1 bedroom and don't see any where in the near future how they could upgrade to a larger apt b/c of finances or the fact that they own that apt and would have a hard time selling in the soft market. While it's ok to have a baby in your room with you, most social workers want to know that the child will have his/her own space once they get older.

With that said, whether you rent or own will have no affect whatso ever on the adoption. We were renting when we did our homestudy, and still renting when we were placed with Jayden. We didn't purchase until he was 9 months old. So that certainly doesn't matter. Good luck!

lovemymonkey · March 2010

for our home visit, our SW was just looking to see that we had enough space for a child. We had separate visits from the county for safety and fire inspections.

The homestudy as a whole is much more than just the home visit, it includes an extensive financial review, background checks, personal interviews, medical history review, etc. I agree with the PPer who said maybe they were denied for other reasons other than just having a 1 BR apartment?

AuburnBride06 · March 2010

Makinroom4baby:
I'm thinking your friends were denied for more than just having a 1 bedroom apt. It could have been that they have the 1 bedroom and don't see any where in the near future how they could upgrade to a larger apt b/c of finances or the fact that they own that apt and would have a hard time selling in the soft market. While it's ok to have a baby in your room with you, most social workers want to know that the child will have his/her own space once they get older.

With that said, whether you rent or own will have no affect whatso ever on the adoption. We were renting when we did our homestudy, and still renting when we were placed with Jayden. We didn't purchase until he was 9 months old. So that certainly doesn't matter. Good luck!

This is what I understand too. I don't think it is an issue for renters.

I think that a social worker really wants to know if there are any hazards in the home and whether you can pay your bills and handle the extra expense of a baby.

That is a really sad story. Maybe they can do a repeat home study? or talk so another social worker/agency?

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