If you are looking into adoption, one of the things you need to do is to think about your home study. Unless you’re adopting privately, you will have a home study performed by the Department of Human Services.
Home studies may seem invasive or frustrating to you, but they are done to make sure that children are placed into safe homes. Oregon conducts home studies for:
- Foster care
- Relative-foster care
- Foster-adopt
- Adoption
- Parent care
When you go through a home study and get approval to adopt, the study is valid for two years.
If you’re not sure about adopting but want the option, can you do a pre-adoptive study?
Yes, Oregon does allow prospective adoptive parents to go through a pre-adoptive home study if they would like to pay for one. This can be helpful since the home study lasts for so long that it may still be valid when the parents do decide to move forward and look for a child to adopt.
If you are going to do an interstate placement, how long do you have to complete the home study?
If you are interested in an interstate placement, you’ll need to have a criminal background check and home study completed within 90 days. This doesn’t include your educational training, which may be on a different timeline. Keep in mind that home studies may take time to set up. Additionally, fingerprint results for criminal records may take up to 60 days, depending on how they were taken.
The importance of home studies can’t be ignored
Home studies are helpful in making sure that a prospective parent is prepared for adopting a child and has the right home to do so. A home needs to be safe for a child to come into it. If a home study is successful, then the prospective parent or parents will be able to move forward with an adoption. If it is not successful, the DHS may give the parents more information on what to do to correct the home or make it possible for them to adopt. They may then attempt another home study in most cases.