My wife and I are getting ready to go onto an adoption list and they have to do a home study and we are going to have physicals. What are they looking for in both of them?
Tags: Adoption, Getting, Kinds, Looking, Onto, Physical, They, Things, What, When
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February 28th, 2010 at 1:37 PM
For our both of our adoptions we just had to have a basic physical, and have our doctors state that we were in good health, and they had to list any medications we were taking. They just want to make sure you are generally healthy, and don’t have any major physical or health concerns.
As far as the home study, we were both interviewed separately and together. Our social worker just needed to get a good idea about our lives, marriage, and parenting style. She also wanted to make sure we fully understood the process and things we needed to be aware of when raising an adopted child, so it was a good time to ask her any questions we had.
The home visit is just to make sure that your home is a safe environment to raise a child. Everyone I know who’s gone through one has cleaned the entire house from top to bottom and then found out it really wasn’t necessary. You don’t need to come across as perfect, just be honest and be yourselves, and you’ll do fine.
February 28th, 2010 at 4:46 PM
They will give you a “full physical”, not just check your weight, height, nose, ears throat. Blood tests, urine test. Mainly, they check for drug use, but also, for example, they found that my husband’s cholesterol was borderline high. He was able to control this with extra exercise and a better diet however.
As far as the homestudy goes, depending on your state’s requirements, the physical is only a very small part of it. They will do a full criminal backround check, financials included, so if you filed for bankruptcy 10 years ago, they will know about it. Full driving record. Fire Dept inspection of the home, Heath and Human Services inspection. Social worker visits (up to 3), Letters of recommendation by 3-4 of your friends (family excluded), Employment verification and letter of recommendation from them, and the list goes on.
Realistically, you can finish this list within a couple of weeks if your time permits, it’s waiting for the results to come back that can take up to 3 months (or so we found out due to the FBI being very busy with other things at them time, we were put on the back burner)…
It can be frustrating, but remember, this is only the beginning….the hardest part is yet to come……..The WAIT……
February 28th, 2010 at 9:01 PM
I think it might vary a little by state, and possibly by type of adoption (i.e. agency requirements, requirements of a foreign country).
As I remember the exam was just a very basic physical — less than a regular one, at least for us. My husband’s took awhile because he had “white coat hypertension” from being excited and in the doctor’s office, so he had to relax and re-take it. As I remember, the California form (it was a state form, I think) also wanted an HIV test. I’m pretty sure there was no drug test. The form also asked if we were fertile (I don’t remember the exact wording). And as someone else pointed out, they wanted to know how long you’d been seen by that doctor.
Can you get a copy of the form? Usually they have you take it in, as the doctors don’t keep them on hand. Then you’d know for sure. It ‘isn’t a big deal if you are generally healthy.
February 28th, 2010 at 9:37 PM
They’ll do drug tests, and mostly to test for overall general conditions, to make sure that your life expectancy and quality of life is enough to raise a child. For instance, if someone were epileptic, and couldn’t drive, in small towns, it could be a real problem. If something were really out of whack that could lead to debilitating illness, like super high colesterol levels, it could be a no-go. Also, people are tested for illnesses such as aids and hepatitis, which could be contagious in some cases.
Don’t worry. If your overall health is pretty good (not even perfect), you’ll have a good chance. Also, the doctor might ask some questions relating to overall mentall illness. Good luck!
March 1st, 2010 at 3:36 AM
One thing they look for in my area is how long you have been a patient of the doctor who signed the form. It is suspect if they have known you for one day…..
They do a general physical, blood pressure, weight, height, etc. They note whether you take medications, including those for depression, anxiety, etc.
No drug tests though that may be in the works.
they want to know if you have any chronic health conditions which would hinder your ability to care for a child.
March 1st, 2010 at 8:16 AM
In my area the Doctor just looked at my medical file and signed the forms. The same for my wife (we use different Doctors). It was as simple as that. We got to use our own Doctors so they already knew us. Even when we did our international adoption it was just as simple. No drug screening, no xrays, no blood tests, no probes….. Essentially they want to know if you are physically fit enough to parent a child.
March 1st, 2010 at 12:17 PM
They want to make sure you are healthy enough that you are likely to live for the next 20 years or so. They want to make sure there are no undiagnosed or untreated medical conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease etc. It is okay to have these conditions so long as they are treated and managed. They just want a basic physical with a few screening tests (blood and urine tests).
March 1st, 2010 at 2:28 PM
I went to my regular Dr. and she just signed the form that my home study worker gave to me. The form asked if I was healthy enough to take care of a child. It also asked about any meds I was currently taking.
My husband took his form to a walk in clinic. They signed it no questions asked.
Neither of us were tested for drugs or TB.
March 1st, 2010 at 8:25 PM
they didn’t do drug tests on our family but just a normal physical to say if you are medically able to care for a child long term.
March 1st, 2010 at 9:05 PM
Make sure you won’t get badly sick on the child and have not been doing drugs or anything of that nature.