Home Study

Tonight's visit from our social worker was the final visit needed to complete our home study. Before tonight's visit, we weren't sure what to expect. You know, you hear different things from different people. One person told us that her social worker was very picky and required $2400 worth of improvements to the home before allowing the study to be finalized. Another person told us that all of her fears were overrated and the social worker was very easy to work with. So, not knowing which situation we were walking into, we gave in to the urge to improve our home. Unsure of what the social worker was looking for (we only knew of a smoke detector and fire extinguisher), we put our hands to work at repairing and improving everything that could possibly be improved, and then some.

To no surprise, we enlisted the help of my parents to tackle the task. Dad worked outside pulling up large weeds and uninvited trees while Chris designed the landscaping and garden. Mom worked inside re-calking the bathtub, washing windows and painting trim. I gutted the closets, un-doggified the house, cleaned from top to bottom, and secured baby-proof outlet covers and cabinet locks. While mom made curtains for the office and bedroom, Chris and I installed quarter-round in three rooms, painted the living room, and organized our large collection of books/bookshelves. Thankfully, my dad let us use a lot of nifty tools and saws since we had many projects that required wood cutting. Chris made a bookshelf for our office to solve the clutter problem, and totally revamped the garage. Which leads to my next point...

For those of you who are facing a future home study visit: don't stres out! Our social worker was so easy to work with. She entered the home, took a short tour, and then sat down at our kitchen table discuss items needed for our home study report. The tour (because of our small house) took only 1 minute...seriously! She didn't look in any closets, she didn't look under the bed, she simply walked around to see what type of floorplan we have to offer our daughter. She didn't even peek into the garage, and in order to inspect the lawn, she merely glanced out the kitchen window. The interview following the tour was not bad at all. Our social worker asked questions on topics such as discipline, godparents, and employment history. She also asked briefly about religous intentions with our daughter, and what the community (Huntsville) is like as it pertains to our future daughter.

So all in all, the visit went really well. Our social worker's daughter accompanied her to our house, and she brought a gift (a little Guatemalan mom holding a baby, magnet). After about 1.5 hours, the social worker was out the door and on her way home. We are so fortunate that our personalities meshed so well; she is a person we hope to stay friends with even after the adoption is complete. And as far as the home improvements, I don't regret any of them. Even if she didn't notice them all, they made such a big difference in our home.