China
Guatemala
Russia
Vietnam
India
EthiopiaWhether you choose a domestic or international adoption, you are required to have a home study completed by a state-licensed agency (FTIA requires that adopting parents do not work with independent social workers for their home study). The home study is not to see if you are good enough to adopt, it is to assure that you are prepared to adopt, that you have proper accommodations and financial arrangements to care for a child. Naturally, part of the home study will include a background check, including a criminal history check, for which you can certainly understand the need in today's society.
The Hague Convention (Hague) requires that FTIA has a signed Agreement from the agency that completes your Home Study; we apply this standard to all adoptions even if the country is not Hague. Before selecting a Home Study Agency and/or paying any money to any Home Study Agency we recommend consulting with us so we can either verify; 1) the agency you have preliminarily selected does have an Agreement with FTIA; 2) if the agency you have preliminarily selected does not have an Agreement in place, we can contact the agency to see if they are willing to sign the required Agreement; or 3) if the Home Study Agency will not sign the required Agreement, we can identify another agency for your Home Study with the necessary Agreement in place.
If you are adopting from India, please do not sign up or contract with a local service provider for a home study until consulting with FTIA because there are additional requirements.
If Adopting Parents sign a contract with a Home Study Provider prior to consulting with FTIA and the Home Study Provider does not have the proper accreditation and does not have a signed agreement with FTIA or refuses to sign an agreement with FTIA, the Adopting Parents may lose money if the Adopting Parents have paid money to the Home Study Provider.
The agency preparing your home study will likely require medical information and financial information, as well as personal reference letters and criminal history checks. A question that often arises is, "can we use the documents we are required to secure as part of our home study for our dossier?" The short answer is, "no." although there may be some limited exceptions.
The social worker preparing your home study will typically end the home study with an approval and recommendation for the placement of a child in your home. Often the recommendation will include an age range of the child(ren) to be placed in your home. Please make certain that this age range is fairly wide (e.g., 9-15 months) even if your desire is for a child 9 months of age. You can include your request for a 9-month old in your letter/petition to adopt to the foreign officials. However, the home study goes to the CIS and if you adopt a child outside the age range you are approved for in your home study, you may encounter delays by U.S. government officials when you are preparing to return to the U.S. after you complete your adoption overseas. Do not worry about this now--just be aware that your home study should approve you for a wide age range.
If a couple is adopting and one of the couple does not work outside the home, or if one of the couple is now working outside the home but plans on staying home after the adoption, this should be addressed in the home study.
There are post-placement requirements for each country (See the Post-Adoption Requirements for each country.) These reports are completed after you return to the US with your child to confirm your family's bonding, physical and emotional health, development, and other important issues.
It is important that your FTIA coordinator review a draft of your home study prior to finalization.
When adopting from Russia, an amended Home Study with the specific child's information will have to be prepared after the family's first trip to Russia.
