Your adoption journey may be fairly brief and simple or it may be long and complex. Sometimes it’s hard to foresee how long it will take to complete the journey. If you complete your Home Study and a year later you have not yet finalized your adoption, you will need a Home Study update.
Most adoptions require a Home Study
Under Arkansas law, nearly all adoptions require a Home Study. In some cases, such as a steparent adoption of a child who has already been living in the same home as the stepparent, a Home Study may not be required. In most cases, though, a Home Study is a must.
A Home Study involves interviews with members of the household, an in-person check on the safety and suitability of the home, and background and medical checks for family members. Once would-be adoptive parents have completed their home study and have been approved to adopt, they can begin working with a birth mom or expectant mom to adopt a child.
If it takes a while to make a match, and then perhaps a match is made with an expectant mom, it is possible that the process could take longer than a year. If it has been a year since your home study, you will need a home study update.
What is the purpose of an update?
The most important reason for an update is that things can change. For example, all family members over the age of 10 must have interviews. Last year’s 9 year olds will have turned 10. Equally, some family members may have gotten old enough to require background checks.
Another essential part of a Home Study is a check on the safety of well water for homes that are not on a municipal system. The safety of the water in the home must be checked by the Department of Health. A year is long enough for the safety of well water to change, so it needs to be checked again.
There may also be new pets, remodeling that can change the size of a bedroom — and what about that pool you put in? Life goes on and things change. A home study update is a common sense requirement.
Other reasons for a home study update
You will always need a home study update after a year, but there are other reasons. For example, if you move or have a new member of the household, if an older child grows up and moves out, or if one of the parents has a new job, an update will be necessary.
How to get an update
Contact the licensed social worker who provided the original Home Study and ask for an update. There will be an update fee to pay, but otherwise the process should be straightforward. You’ve already been through the experience and you will know what’s involved.