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Tips on Getting Your House Ready for the Home Study

By: Mardie Caldwell, COAP (View Profile)

When you adopt a child, a home study is required. The purpose of the home study is to evaluate the environment the child will be living in. This is all part of the adoption process. Of course you will want to make as good of an impression as possible so that when the adoption professional visits, your home study will go through smoothly.

One problem that many people have is that they are so busy with work, the adoption, and everyday life that they find it extremely difficult to devote the time to cleaning and getting ready for their home study. Being ready for the home study as well as your child is extremely important, but it can be accomplished with out undue stress.

Getting your house ready for your adoption does not have to be an unpleasant task. Remember, this is all in preparation for bringing your child home; and if you look at it as simply part of preparing for new beginnings, it will suddenly not feel like such a chore.

Getting ready for the adoption home study can be a much easier process if you:

  •  Make a list of everything that needs to be done. This may include remodeling a bedroom for your child, clearing out anything that is cluttering your home, etc.

  • Assign yourself a task to spend an hour completing each day. Take on one room at a time. On Monday you may want to spend time getting rid of clutter, Tuesday can be laundry day, Wednesday can be spent dusting and vacuuming, etc.

  • Use the correct tools for the job you are doing. Getting something done is so much easier if you have the proper tools to do the job. For instance, it is much easier to get something done quickly if you have a container to hold your cleaning materials. This way you will be able to take them with you from room to room instead of running back and forth to get what you need.

  • Get rid of the junk. This may sound simple, but some people find this very hard to do. Make it a rule that if it is not something that you absolutely love, has sentimental value, or is something that is used, it is junk and needs to be disposed of or donated to charity.

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posted: 11.27.2007
Mardie Caldwell, COAP
Mardie Caldwell, C.O.A.P. is a Certified Open Adoption Practitioner, an award winning author of 2 adoption books AdoptingOnline.com and Adoption: Your Step-by-Step Guide. Mardie is also the talk show host of Let's Talk Adoption.com with Mardie Caldwell and the founder of Lifetime Adoption in 1986. She travels and speaks nationwide on adoption topics, family topics, infertility and writing. She has been quoted in and consulted for Parenting and Adoption magazines and has appeared on CNN, CBS, ABC, BBC, NBC, and Fox. Featured in Parade Magazine, Caldwell is an adoptive mother living in Northern California.
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