China
Guatemala
Russia
Vietnam
Brazil
India
EthiopiaWhether you choose a domestic or international adoption, you are required to have a home study completed by a state-licensed agency. 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. 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.
The agency preparing your home study will probably require medical and financial information as well as personal reference letters and a criminal history check. 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., 6-15 months) even if your desire is for a child 6 months of age. You can include your request for a 6-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 adoption program (See the Post-Adoption Requirements for each country.) These reports are completed after your child's adoption to confirm your family's bonding, physical and emotional health, development, and other important issues.
Please have your home study agency provide you with three (3) originally executed and notarized home studies. If only one of a married couple will be traveling overseas, please request that your home study agency provide you with four (4) originally executed and notarized home studies. Your home study agency may provide the home studies directly to you, directly to our office, or insist on submitting one to the CIS, another to you, and one to our office. It doesn't make any difference, as long as we, the CIS and you receive an original/notarized home study. If all are given to you, you will need to send one home study to the CIS as explained in the next section of this International Adoption Guide. You will include an original home study in the documents you collect for the international adoption officials. You will want to retain an original home study for your records. Additional original home studies may be required if your State has any additional pre-adoption requirements. These state requirements often apply when only one parent of a married couple is traveling overseas to adopt. However, some States (for example, Illinois and Kentucky), have state requirements for all international adoptions. When there are state requirements, state adoption officials do get involved to some degree.
The home study must be submitted to the CIS. Please note, if you are adopting from a Hague country and will file the I-800A form, your home study must be submitted at the same time as your I-800A. Some home study agencies will send the home study to the CIS for adopting parents while other home study agencies will give the home study to you and you are to submit the home study to the CIS. Please make sure you know whether you are to submit the home study to the CIS or whether your home study agency will submit your home study to the CIS for you. Any miscommunication could result in a delay in the CIS issuing its approval, the I-171H, and delay your child's adoption.
