Homestudy

Compassionate Hearts Adoption Agency offers full homestudy and post-placement services for families in the state Montana. The homestudies are valid for domestic adoption, and we act as Supervised Providers for international homestudies.

Compassionate Hearts in Montana is able to update homestudies that were originally completed by other agencies and also do post-placement reports for adoptions completed by other agencies. To inquire about homestudy services or post placement reports in Montana, call (406) 681-3127 or email us at info@compassionatehearts.org.

Each adoptive family must have a homestudy done by a social worker licensed in your state and approved to do home studies. For Montana families, when we receive your application, we will send you a folder with samples and directions to gather the documentation that Montana requires for a home study. These include things like a short medical letter for each person in the family (It is important to note that medical conditions generally do not exclude you from adoption, but the condition must be documented in the homestudy) letters verifying employment, a copy of the family’s birth certificates and marriage license(when applicable), your monthly income and expenses and so on.

Each parent in the home will complete 10 hours of adoption training which comes in the form of articles sent to you on a thumb drive in the folder, and after each parent reads all the articles, they will fill out our training form, also included.

Background clearances are required and the folder will give you instructions on completing those. If a parent has a criminal record, it would be best to disclose that right away to us so we can tell you if you can still likely be approved as an adoptive parent.

Once a family has provided most of the needed documentation, we will make an appointment for a social worker to come to your home for a visit to make sure your home is safe and to talk to you for a couple hours, answering any questions you have and going over what you have sent us.

When all this is completed, a homestudy will be written for you and you will be sent two original copies.

Cost of Homestudy

$1850 is the cost of our homestudy. Additional costs are travel to your home for the required home visit. Criminal clearances are $55 to $100 per person depending on how fast you want the results, payable to the Montana Department of Justice. Your packet will have detailed info on how to get criminal clearances. After a child is placed into your home, the cost of a post-placement report is $350 plus the same travel cost as you paid for the homestudy visit.

Placement of a Child in Your Home

While the state of Montana does not have many babies or children for private adoption, with a completed Montana homestudy, you may put your name into any adoption agency in the U.S. that places children. You are not limited to Montana. For this reason, Compassionate Hearts does not place children into adoptive homes, but we do homestudies, and we have suggestions of agencies in many states that have placed children with our homestudied families in the past.

You may also have already found a placing agency and now you need Montana homestudy services in which case, please contact us.

Once the homestudy is finished, or during the homestudy process, we encourage you to check into agencies for placement. Some agencies have an upfront fee for you to be on their waiting list. You may put your name or application into several placing agencies. Others do not charge you until you have a baby in your arms. If you are doing an international adoption, you will be also working with an international adoption agency who works in the countries you are interested in. We can help you locate an international adoption agency if you would like. If you are doing a domestic adoption, as you look for a placement agency, here are suggestions for questions you should ask.

1. What is the total adoption cost? Does that include finalization?

2. If the adoption finalizes in the state where the baby was born, do we have to return there for the finalization?

3. What is a typical wait for being matched to a birth mother who is pregnant?

4. How many families did you have waiting for a baby/child last year? How many of those families were matched and took babies home? What was the average wait?

5. In the last couple of years, what is the percentage of mothers who changed their minds and decided to parent their baby after being matched to a potential adoptive parent?

6. If a birth mother changes her mind after you are matched to her, do you lose money you have paid upfront? How much?

7. In the past five or so years, what percentage of birth mothers changed their minds?

8. Do you have a number of post placement reports that will be due after the child is in our home, or is that determined by the state where the adoption finalizes?

At any time in your adoption, please consider us your counselors. We are always happy to talk with you about any questions or concerns you are facing. We have extensive adoption experience, and it is our pleasure to give you our assistance.