If you are adopting, the first step is to get a home study. This is an assessment done by a licensed provider in your state of residence that verifies your suitability to adopt a child.
This Home Study consists of a whole lot of verification of documents (see our blog on the checklist here), several interviews and an inspection of your home. This visit to your home is known as the “Home Inspection”, “Home Visit” or something similar.
Each agency has their own routine and process around the home study and inspection, but there are some general expectations for the process that can help you prepare.
The Purpose of A Home Visit:
The visit to your home is important for several reasons.
FIRST, it allows an adoption social worker to meet you in person in your natural habitat. A home tells us a lot about a person. While visiting your home we can pick up on your decor style, the people and items that are important to you, and the hobbies and interests you have. This allows us to develop a deeper context around what we obtain from the required documentation and in your interviews.
SECOND, it allows us to ensure that you are real. Nowadays, many interviews are being done remotely. Seeing you in person verifies that you are real!
THIRD, it gives us an opportunity to ensure that a child can physically fit in your home would be safe.
How long is the visit?
The visit lasts about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of your home.
The worker asks you to give them a tour, showing them all of the nooks and crannies. We ask you to tell us about your home and how you use the space, and we take notes as we go (we write down everything, not just bad stuff so don’t be nervous!). Our notes are compiled into the “HOME AND COMMUNITY” section of your home study report, so we try to obtain as much detail as we can to include in our narrative later.
Cleanliness: We want to see a home that is free from excessive clutter. We want to see that you maintain your home and take care of your space. We are not looking for dust on baseboards or polished silverware so don’t go nuts cleaning the space. Particularly if you have pets or are parenting other children, we know that homes are meant to be lived in!
Neighborhood: We want to ensure that a child in your home will have a safe neighborhood in which to live. We would be concerned if you live in a neighborhood with high levels of violent crime.
We want children to have access to resources that enhance their lives, particularly if you are being approved for a child with special needs. Your proximity to hospital and educational resources will be considered.
Bedroom: While we don’t expect you to have a nursery set up, we want to see that you have a designated space for a child. Perhaps it is currently being used for another reason (guest room or office), but you have plans to convert the space when needed. There are no regulations around bedroom specifications for children adopted privately in PA, but we want to see a bedroom that is an adequate size (not an actual closet!) and that is has a window, heating vent and closet.
Safety:
We do not expect you to have your home safety proofed during our visit, especially if there are no other children living in your home. We will point out potential hazards as we tour and ask your plan for making them safe from children. We will ask you to tell us how you intend to child proof things like cabinets, stairs and household cleaning supplies.
We will suggest things as we see them, for example if your tvs are on furniture and not mounted, we will suggest you mount them once a child is in the home.
We will discuss safety recommendations for things like ponds/pools/hot tubs, fireplaces/hearths, doors, staircases and more.
Medicine and cleaning products should be stored out of reach of children.
If you are not sure what babyproofing looks like, please visit this website for more.
–> More Info: BBM – Baby-Proofing 101: A Complete Guide to Childproofing Your Home (babybymonth.com)
Fire Safety:
We are looking for fire extinguishers in the kitchen and ideally one on each level of living. We want to see smoke detectors and we ask that they are checked before our visit to ensure they are functioning. There should be at least one on each level of living and are required to be outside of the bedrooms. Some agencies may ask you for a fire escape plan to be included in your file.
We ask to see a carbon monoxide detector. Often they are integral in the smoke detectors, but if not, get one and plug near a gas appliance.
We recommended a fire escape ladder on the second story.
Firearm Storage: There are no laws in Pennsylvania requiring guns to be stored in a particular way. However, in homes where children reside, there are safe standard recommendations are that weapons be stored in a locked cabinet, that ammunition is stored separately and the keys to the locks are stored in a safe place that only the gun owner is aware of and has access to.
OTHER HELPFUL TIPS:
PETS: Pets must be present for the visit! We are assessing the safety of a future child, and an unruly or dangerous pet is a concern. We also recognize that pet’s get excited when new people come. If you have a barking dog, or a pet that may try to run out the door when we arrive, just let us know so we can adjust our behavior. If your old or anxious pet needs us to ignore them while we’re there, we can do that too!
All family members must be present, so if you have children or extended family living with you, they all must be there for the visit. Please be sure to schedule the visit for a day and time when everyone is available.
It would be lovely if you would offer us water or coffee when we arrive (or for the ride home!), but please don’t take offense if we say no. You do not need to serve us home made cookies or elaborate drinks.
What to wear: While every social worker will dress differently, we generally try to wear comfortable work clothing as we’re in a casual environment in client homes. Please feel free to dress comfortably.
As providers, we generally take shoes off at the door as it is the most respectful thing to do when entering someone’s home. If your provider doesn’t seem to be initiating removing shoes and you are a no shoes home, please kindly ask that they take shoes off. Please let us know if there are other things you’d like us to do while in your home to respect your space! Also, notify us ahead of time of any parking restrictions we need to be mindful of.
Our goal is to ensure the space you keep is safe and appropriate for a child, and that any modifications needed are made obvious to you.
If your home is substantially unsafe for some reason, or cannot accommodate a child, and there are no modifications that can be made to make it so, know that our duty is to alert you of this. If this occurs, know that we cannot approve you to adopt and the report we write will say as much. The situation where we cannot approve a family’s home is rare and usually for something extreme.
We are here to help you through this process!
