What does a home visit consist of?

Question

My husband and I might be considering adoption, and I'm wondering what the home visit people will be looking for.

Also, I had two more questions:

We have a two bedroom home with a 4 year old girl who would have to share the room with the new child for a few years. We plan to eventually move to a bigger house a few years down the road. Do you think that would be a problem?

Also, I read on adoption.com (.org?) that some agencies will not adopt to overweight parents. My husband is slightly overweight (a little belly), but I'm a plus size gal. Do any of you have any idea if this is common, or not, or what...?

Thanks--the whole process seems overwhelming when you first start looking at it.

Answer 1

In our case it consisted of about 3 hours around our dining room table having coffee and cakes while we talked about our past, our families and our current family as well as our reasons for wanting to adopt.  She also spoke to our two daughters (the oldest of which is also adopted) and then left to make contact with our references over the next couple of weeks.  She came back once again for a shorter meeting to clean up any loose ends and we were done.  

In my area at least, sharing a room is not a problem as long as both children are younger then school age IF they are different genders.  If you have two girls or two boys sharing a room thats fine.  

The weight issue I think only plays into overall health and private agencies have the luxury (if you consider it such) to be discriminatory that way more then State agencies.  Ultimately as long as you are healthy there shouldn't be an issue.

I agree, it can all be overwhelming but it gets clearer in time.  My wife and I have now done two adoptions, one international and this last one was domestic.  Both very different processes but we made it through intact with no major hic ups and no major issues.

Good luck and God bless.

Answer 2

The home visit is basically to make sure that you have a suitable environment in which to raise a child. Some agencies like you to already be prepared for baby, others don't require it; so check to see if you need to be babyproofed, etc. Depending on your state, other things will be looked at as well. You will be asked about your childhood, your parenting beliefs, how you plan to parent your new child, how you plan to incorporate their birthculture (if from another culture) into your lives, how you plan to talk to them about adoption, discuss your support network and resources. Remember that the case worker who is doing your homevisits is your friend, s/he is there to help you and help find a home for a child.

It shouldn't be a problem for your children to share a room, lots of kids do...our sons do! As long as the kids have enough of their "own" space, then you should be fine. BUT some agencies do require each child to have a certain square foot of space in the room (ie, 5 sq ft per child, so the room has to be 15 sq ft for 3 kids).

Some agencies do have certain health requirements that need to be met. You will need to contact the agencies directly to find out what they are. As far as I know, weight is not normally an issue for domestic adoption, but there are several countries that do have weight/BMI requirements for potential parents.

Yes, adoption can be overwhelming at first because there are so many agencies, rules, etc. Figuring out where your next child is going to be born will help a lot!

Good luck!