The adoption process can be an emotional rollercoaster that can get more difficult before it ends, with you holding your adopted child in your arms. There are many steps in the Oklahoma adoption process, one of which can be especially invasive.
Having a Tulsa family law attorney in your corner can help the process proceed smoothly and ease a lot of the emotional turmoil that most adoptive parents go through.
What is a Home Study?
Many adoptive parents dread the inevitable home study. This is when a social worker reviews your home and your family as a whole and determines whether you are approved to adopt. The home study is typically a five-to-15-page report detailing your family life and the home environment.
The home study is broken down into two sections: Your ability to be a parent and your ability to provide a suitable home for your child. This process can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months. This is one of the most difficult parts of the process, but your family law adoption attorney can help you successfully prepare for this event.
Prepare Yourself Emotionally
This process can be very emotional, calling into question your parenting, your home environment, life decisions, and family relationships. However, that is not the social workers goal, to shame you or question you. The social worker is there to ensure this is the best home for the adopted child.
Your adoption attorney will help go over some of the questions the social workers ask and what they are looking for in your answers. While your adoption attorney is not supposed to tell you how to answer the questions, they can help you focus on the relevant topics to discuss with the social worker.
Disclose Any Health or Legal Issues
Sensitive topics such as health and legal issues will eventually come to light, you want to make sure that it is you that tells the social worker and that they don’t find out from another source. Your adoption attorney will help prepare you on how to discuss these issues with the social worker.
Most people don’t deal with social workers every day, having an adoption attorney that knows what the social worker needs to hear is very helpful and will make the process easier to complete. If you have a medical condition that requires you to take medication, make sure you have documentation and side effects of the medication.
Being completely honest with your social worker will negate any distrust they may have and will work with you and your adoption attorney.
Disclose Recent Increase in Income
If your income has increased, this can further show your ability to financially care for your foster child. Your adoption attorney will help you identify the proper documents you need to show the social worker, including pay stubs, job offer, paperwork showing hire date, etc.
Sleeping Arrangements
One of the most important questions your social worker will ask involves where the adopted child will sleep. Even if they don’t have their own bedroom, make sure you have a space set up to physically show the social worker when they are there.
If you plan on converting a room to your child’s bedroom, tell your social worker that when they are there and explain how you will convert the room in detail to them.
Be on the Same Page
Something that can turn a great home visit negative is when you and your spouse are not in agreement on family life, relationships, parenting, etc. If the social worker senses that you and your spouse have not adequately discussed having another child in your life, this will create a red flag.
Your spouse and you will be interviewed together, but you will also be interviewed separately as well. If one spouse is not feeling as strong about continuing in the adoption procedure, this may disqualify you for the immediate future.
Discuss with your spouse the sleeping arrangement, school arrangements, child care, how household duties will be divided, discipline style, family relationships, your belief system, morals and values, etc. Being on the same page will encourage the social worker that both of you are taking this seriously and know what bringing a child into your home means.
Free Consultation with a Tulsa Adoption Lawyer
An experienced Tulsa adoption attorney can help you through the adoption, especially the overwhelming home study portion. Meeting with an adoption attorney will help understand the process more thoroughly and be prepared for the adoption process.
Contact an experienced Tulsa divorce attorney when you need to go through the Oklahoma adoption process.
For a free confidential consultation, call now: 918-924-5526.
