Before an adoption agency will approve your application for adopting a baby, it will usually require you to undergo a homestudy. A homestudy basically involves several interviews with a social worker that takes place within an average of 3 to 6 months. From the homestudy report findings, the adoption agency will determine whether you will be a suitable parent. Your responses to questions asked during the homestudy can have a profound effect on your adoption application. Here are 3 things you can do to better your standing from the homestudy.

Prove Stability of Home Life

With 36 couples waiting to adopt for every one baby that is adopted, adoption agencies want to confirm and verify that you'll be a suitable prospective parent who can give the adopted baby a wonderful life. With that said, the homestudy will largely focus on whether you can offer the baby a stable home life, as instability can lead to behavioral problems, cognitive development delays, health issues and even neglect. This will include whether you have stable employment, live in a good neighborhood with low crime rates and have a strong relationship with your spouse. If you are a single applicant, you will want to show that you have strong relationships with others around you and will be able to integrate the baby into your network of relatives and friends with ease.

To prove stability of home life, consider showing paystubs to the social worker conducting the homestudy. You'll want to provide significant details in regards to your line of work. This will include how long you have been working at your current company, future promotions you look forward to, the amount of hours you will work and more. In addition, testimony from relatives and friends can show the social worker that the baby will easily integrate into your social network.

Show Plans for Child Care and Daily Life

Although you may not have adopted a baby yet, prove to the social worker that you are ready. Before the homestudy, sit down and plan out how your days would look like after you have adopted a baby. You should include when you will be heading off to work, when you'll be home and whether you have any plans for child care in mind. If a relative will be caring for the baby while you're at work, you should get a signed testimony from that relative.

The social worker will also want to see that you have planned out how you will handle your own hobbies and interests. For example, will you still be attending book clubs every week? If you are adopting a young child, the social worker will want to determine whether you will be interested in signing up your child for a sports team or any other types of hobbies.

Disclose Prior Parenting Skills

Being a parent is difficult, and learning how to parent a child can take time. During the homestudy, the social worker will want to know whether you have any prior experience in parenting. For example, this may include whether you have cared for other people's children, babysat or volunteered to work with young children. The social worker may also ask you how to plan to discipline your child and approach other parenting issues.

You don't want to have nothing to say during the questioning. Read up on different types of parenting techniques and skills to determine how you would approach different situations and scenarios. If you have worked with or taken care of young children before, you should collect evidence that will prove so.

Conclusion

The results of the homestudy will literally determine whether you are fit to become a parent. Many adoption agencies will scrutinize the homestudy report findings before approving an adoption application. While the homestudy does take place over several months, so you'll have several tries in impressing the social worker, it's best to be prepared.

For more information about this and other parts of the adoption process, contact a local agency like A Child's Dream.