They Have To Study My Home???

There's this thing called a home study that we just finished. More accurately it's multiple home study "interviews" ending with a home safety inspection.

The home study isn't the only thing required to be licensed, but you could say it's a pretty big chunk. Yep, a chunk. Some of you have asked what all is involved in getting foster licensed. Here are the basics:

• LOTS of application paperwork and personal essays. We're talking I almost gave up before I even started!
• Interview with your agency (if you go that route - more on that in another post)
• 6 hour First Aid/CPR/HIV certification class
• State Orientation Quiz
• 30 hours of PRIDE (Parents Resources for Information Development Education) Training 
• TB test, immunizations and a sign off from your doctor that you will most likely be alive and well in the near future
• House Inspection
• Fingerprinting and Background Checks (Side note - do you remember getting fingerprinted as a kid? Well it's not like that anymore. That was like a stamp pad. Now they digitally scan all 10 of your entire fingers. Twice.)
• 1st Home Study Visit
• Cultural & Ethnic Identity Training (per our agency)
• 2nd and 3rd Home Study visit
• 4th Visit if necessary
• Ready to Receive Children

Phew, there you go! For those of you who have ever been a foster parent or domestically or internationally adopted, you know exactly what I'm talking about! Personally, I found the home study challenging because you really have to evaluate your life, your personality, your parenting and pretty much every other minute detail of your life. And then be ready to type it all out and share it with your case worker at least two or three different times. I don't know about any of you who've done this, but it was somewhat funny at the end because I felt like such a broken record. Let's just say the state really wants to make sure you know what's up with your life! 

So what exactly do they ask you? Here's a few things:

• Describe your childhood 
• Describe how you resolve conflict with your spouse
• What behaviors or qualities do you find the most challenging in children?

That part of the application is 16 pages long, but you get the idea. To someone like myself who suffers from writer's block and total mind blanks, this took me a while to complete to say the least. The home study then, in essence, is a discussion of what you've already written. First you and your spouse together with your caseworker, then both of you individually with your caseworker.  We consider ourselves extremely blessed to be working with an amazing agency, so in all reality the home study process was really wonderful. (though still a bit nerve wracking at times, I'm pretty sure that's normal. If any of you out there thought it was a breeze, please let me know ;)

This Monday we finished the house inspection part of the home study. This is where they check your home for general safety, water temperature, cabinet locks, fire escape plans, etc. We are done with the home study process now and simply waiting for our paperwork to be sent to the state, and then wait for the final approval. The time frame is still a bit unknown though. Could be a few weeks, could be a few months. But there you have it, we're getting closer!

(our house)