OVERVIEW
The home study process can be broken down into four simple steps:
1. Obtaining Information
Families must complete required documentation based on Florida Statute. You will be asked to complete a screening questionnaire providing information about your current household situation, family background, work history, and finances; to assess your readiness to proceed with the process.
All adult household members must pass background screenings to include FBI/FDLE, local law enforcement, child abuse requests, sexual offender search, and civil searches. Juvenile background screening will be completed for ages 12 to 17 years old.
Please reach out for any questions and details.
2. PRIDE Pre-Service Training
Families seeking to adopt children from the foster care system are required to complete an approved trauma-based, pre-service training to learn effective ways to parent your traumatized child(ren). Family on the Mend, LLC offers PRIDE (Parent Resources for Information Development and Education) training, which is an approved curriculum for adopting children from the foster care system nationwide.
Please contact us for additional information and training schedules.
3. Home Visit(s)
A combination of home visits, virtual visits, phone calls, and emails will occur to assess each family. The home visit and interviews require the assessor to speak with all household members and observe/interact with pets to assess he family's ability and willingness to parent children with trauma from the foster care system or an infant at birth.
The family members will have the opportunity to address their questions to get a full understanding of the adoption process.
4. Writing the report
Once the home visits and all other communication have occurred, background screening results are received, and all required documentations is obtained; the home study (AHS) will be completed.
Once a home study is approved, you will receive a copy to submit with your inquiries of available children to the state agencies.