Our international and US domestic adoption home studies are comprehensive, concise, and designed to comply with USCIS agency and country requirements.

An important part of your dossier is the home study. In fact, your approval to adopt is contingent upon recommendations contained in the home study. All home studies are supervised by Randy Barlow and Jane Santos. Whenever possible, we coordinate directly with your placement agency for efficiency and to promote mutual understanding.

The home study is a history of your life: your background and current circumstances, how you decided to adopt, hopes for parenting, medical health and financial stability. Social workers are looking for people who will truly advocate for their child -- essentially, parents who are up to the task. The home study social worker approves you as adoptive parents. Every social worker has a different procedure and style in preparing a home study. Here is the process we use:

Initial Contact - Through email and telephone contacts, we will discuss your general adoption goals, security clearances, immigration regulations, agency selections and the estimated fees for our services.

Contract with A New Arrival - Before the home visit is conducted, a signed contract and fees are sent to A New Arrival Adoptions.

Questionnaire - The home study report is compiled from information derived from several sources. One of the most important sources of information is the questionnaire that we ask you to complete and submit to us (the questionnaire is sent to you before the home visit). The other documents are listed on page one of the home study questionnaire. These are the documents that are required for us to verify and complete your report.

The Home Visit - The home visit generally takes between 3 - 6 hours, depending upon how much we need to discuss. Instead of several visits we prefer to spend a few hours of quality time to get to know our clients and their adoption goals.

The Home Study Report - We generally have the home study draft completed in about 60 days after the home visit. It may take some time after that to finalize the report with the placement agency or courts and to obtain the proper legalizations. Usually, we have that completed within 30 days after the draft is completed. As of July 2007, all of our international home studies will be submitted by A New Arrival Adoption Agency.