Home Study: What does that even mean?

Since our next goal is raising funds for our home study, we wanted to let you all know what a home study was and what it meant for us.

We will be assigned a social worker through Lifeline to complete our home study.  The home study is basically a way for the agency to check to see if we are a reliable, stable, secure couple looking to add a child into our home.  Ryan & I will go through a parental training course during this time and will be participating in many interviews with our social worker.  These interviews will help our relationship with our social worker grow, but it will also allow them to see us as a couple looking to parent, and it will give us the opportunity to share details about how we see our adoption playing out.

We will then have numerous home visits where the social worker will check to make sure our home is a safe place for a child.  We will have to meet state, national, and Bulgarian requirements.  This process may even require for health and/or fire inspector to come as well.

We will also be going through health statements; both of us being required to offer a detailed physical.  Income statements will be gone through, so they can make sure we can take care of an additional person.  We will have fingerprinting and background checks done as well.

This is a 4-5 month process.  At the end of the home study, we will get a report on how we did.  If we pass, we can apply for immigration and our paperwork (dossier) is sent to Bulgaria.

The home study really solidifies the adoption process and, more importantly, legally allows Bulgaria to start looking for our child.  
Please help us get to this process by donating a puzzle piece (paying through the PayPal button on the right).