Foster Care to Adoption: The Home Study

We had our initial home study last week. I'm assuming it was not our "major" study, or there was a lot more hype to it than what actually happened.  I've been hearing the home study can make or break you, and so my nesting went into hyper gear as I tried to fix all the wrong things in our home. I had to laugh because I'm actually trying to make my home safer for a child I've never met, rather than for the 3 I already have! But then again, the 3 children at home are the reason I have to fix things....

We set up our classes to start (first one was this Tuesday) rather quickly, so that meant the home study had to be done immediately.  This was probably for the best, leaving me no time to stress too much or redecorate the entire house.  I actually enforced the chore rule for 2 whole days leading up to our study, and when it became evident I wasn't going to get it all done, I decided it was going to have to be 'realistic' instead.  Sean came home to me mopping the floors and said, "I thought we were keeping this real?"  Funny guy. 

The case worker came to our home, super friendly and not wasting time.  She is actually higher up in the chain, so she will not be our locked-in case worker. I fretted because it was lunch time and Carter was home. To keep him entertained and fed, I gave him lunch on the couch with a movie.  Keeping it real...

She handed us a stack of paperwork, flying through what we could fill out with her and handing us the rest. She asked the obvious questions: why do you want to foster? How many children do you have/will you take? What's your support system like? Where do you work? Do you have fire arms in the home/how are they stored? How many DWI's do you have?

When we answered 0 to that last question, she stopped and said, 'Really? None?!" She has a running total of her last 10 visits, all but one of them having a past of DWI's. 

They don't care about tickets, but do care about criminal history. They don't care how you feed your child, your religion, your routine or the stack of laundry you forgot to put away.  They care about finding a home for a hurting child, one that will bring them stability, love and hope.  I can't keep a home clean with 3 little children, but I can provide that. 

We gave her a tour of our home, very quick and simple. She asked less questions than our neighbors and was on her way. Saying "Congratulations! You'll make a great home!"

A sigh of relief swept over me, the same relief I felt after hearing the heart beat of each of our babies growing inside of me.  There will be more home studies, more paperwork, more unknown, but for now, everything is 'good to go'. 

Eek!