indian-preggo-womanQ: We may have an adoption opportunity through a friend of a friend.  A close friend of mine heard about the pregnancy through her sister in law and thought of us. We have not communicated to anyone that we were considering adoption. I feel like this is a long shot but wanted to ask a few basic questions. Briefly, a 16 year old girl living in a nearby state is pregnant and is close to a decision about choosing adoption. Whether she will be interested in talking to us, I’m not sure, but we will know more on Wednesday after their family meeting. In the event anything was to come of this, would we need to do a home study? And is it even remotely possible to work our way through the whole process if she is already 6 months pregnant? We’ll see what happens- even if nothing comes of it it’s an eye opener that friends and family are a valuable resource in terms of potential connections.

A: Friends and family are a HUGE resource in spreading the word that you are interested in adopting and helping find an expectant woman who may be considering making an adoption plan for her child.  Yes, you’ll need a homestudy. It will have to be done by an agency in your state.

Yes, it can be completed in 2-3 months. You need to be very clear with whomever you use to do the homestudy about the time frame and make certain they can give you that turnaround. If you’re starting to spread the word about adoption, it’s a good idea to have your homestudy ready. The only downside is that they do expire. In most states they expire in 12 months, although they last a little longer in a few states. Renewing a homestudy is usually less expensive and less time consuming.

Image Credit: Philippe Put