If you are making an adoption plan and have been doing research on adoption, you may have seen the word “home study” or the words “home study” approved. You are probably wondering what a home study is?

According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway the home study process has three purposes: to educate and prepare the adoptive family for adoption, to gather information on the family, and to evaluate the fitness and readiness of a prospective couple to bring a child into their home and life.

Basically, a home study is a report on a prospective adoptive couple conducted by a social worker. They have to undergo criminal background checks, physicals by a physician, submit financial information, be interviewed, provide references, and have their home inspected.

The definition of a home study in the Glossary on adoption.com explains the term home study a little more in depth.

A home study is sometimes called an "adoption study," and is a written report containing the findings of the social worker who has met on several occasions with the prospective adoptive parents, has visited their home, and who has investigated the health, medical, criminal, family and home background of the adoptive parents. If there are other individuals that are also living in the home of the adoptive parents, they will be interviewed and investigated, if necessary, by the social worker and included as part of the home study. The purpose of the home study is to help the court determine whether the adoptive parents are qualified to adopt a child, based on the criteria that have been established by state law.

I have been looking online to try and find a definite answer as to whether or not an expectant mother has the right to see a home study or not. I can’t seem to locate a definite answer. I know in some cases, expectant mothers have asked to see the home study of prospective adoptive parents and have been given a copy, with information like social security numbers blacked out. In other cases, birthmothers have been denied access to the home study. In good faith, I believe agencies and adoption professionals should allow mothers to see the home study if she requests it.

If it is something you are interested in seeing, it never hurts to ask and perhaps one of the other bloggers reading knows the answer to that question and can leave it as a comment.