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two-state issues


gpm

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Greetings from Missouri,

We're new to the forum, but have read much and learned a great deal. We have an interesting situation: we live in Missouri, but will be moving to Texas for about 9-12 months, then returning to Missouri. We have scheduled the homestudy meetings before we move and will be participating in the Abrazo weekend after we arrive in Texas. Given the timing, it seems possible that matching or even placement could occur while we are in Texas. We don't know if there are any homestudy issues or otherwise. Has anyone been in a similar situation and have any tips or warnings?

Thanks,

Glenn

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Hi Glenn,

I would definitely get a copy of the Texas homestudy requirements (before you begin)...because no matter where you reside, your homestudy must be Texas approved in order for placement to occur in Texas. :)

At least that's the way I understand it.

Karen

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Welcome, Missourians! If your permanent home is in Missouri, then you should get your initial homestudy done there, to meet the requirements of both Missouri and Texas; an addendum would need to be done in Texas if you were to get matched and placed while you were temporarily residing here. However, in order for the child to be legally approved as a resident of your home state, the homestudy and Compact must be filed there, accordingly.

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Just curious...but I was wondering...if one were to have had a homestudy in one state, adopted successfully and then moved to another state, would said someone need to have a whole new homestudy in the new state or would just an addendum be needed if one were to wish to pursue another adoption? Hypothetically, of course ;)

And does it count against you if you use run-on sentences or end a sentence in a preposition? :rolleyes::P

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Just curious...but I was wondering...if one were to have had a homestudy in one state, adopted successfully and then moved to another state, would said someone need to have a whole new homestudy in the new state or would just an addendum be needed if one were to wish to pursue another adoption? Hypothetically, of course ;)

And does it count against you if you use run-on sentences or end a sentence in a preposition? :rolleyes::P

Hhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmm . . . that IS a very interesting question, and I am curious to see the answer . . . :lol::P (and I'm sure timing has something to do with it . . . )

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Actually, it depends on how reasonable the laws and social workers are in the state into which you are moving (if it's a permanent move and not just a temporary relocation).

Under Texas regulations, once you've had an original homestudy done in compliance with our state's standards, it's not ever necessary to completely redo it; even if you move or adopt again years later, all that's necessary is a proper update.

By that definition, our "againers" should need only to update their Texas-approved homestudy within 30 days of their next placement date, to stay in the good graces of the Lone Star State, regardless of where they live.

Unfortunately, many folks who live in or move to other states find that the laws or homestudy agencies there disregard Texas' judgement on the matter and make you start a whole new homestudy (which is, of course, considerably more costly than just getting an update done... :angry: )

P.S. Everything's bigger (and better) in Texas, of course, so I think you just get extra points for run-on sentences and prepositions. Bring 'em on, darlin'! LOL

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And thank goodness our homestudy agency here in Florida was great about updating our 8 year old Tennessee homestudy when we decided to adopt again!

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This is a homestudy "what if" question...

We are homestudy approved for an international adoption and have been advised to wait to update and change it to domestic until closer to placement. What happens if we are chosen for an immediate placement? Our homestudy certainly does not meet TX requirements now and I believe they require 5 visits? We had 2 visits for our original international homestudy. Just wondering if we should be working on it sooner?

Hope

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Hope,

I would most definitely discuss this with Angela, but I would think re-doing it to fix Texas and domestic would be much in your favor. You may very well have a placement where you were matched for a few months with plenty of time to prep, but what if there was a BOG or another kind of placement that was immediate, you'd probably feel better knowing you just had to do the update if if the HomeStudy was more then 6 months old from the date it was done up until placement. I'm not sure, but I would do whatever puts you at ease.

Jenny

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This is a homestudy "what if" question...

We are homestudy approved for an international adoption and have been advised to wait to update and change it to domestic until closer to placement. What happens if we are chosen for an immediate placement? Our homestudy certainly does not meet TX requirements now and I believe they require 5 visits? We had 2 visits for our original international homestudy. Just wondering if we should be working on it sooner?

Hope

Of course I'm no expert, but as I understand it, your homestudy (meeting TX standards) must be complete before you can take placement of the child, so yes, I would think you would want to be as close to done as possible.

The catch with the TX statues as I understand it, is that your last social-worker visit must be within 30 days of taking placement. We have our agency doing our homestudy on 'hold' right now as our original homestudy expired but we did everything we need for the update and even already paid for the final visit/update since we thought we were taking placement within a few weeks. So, they told us to just let them know when that special time comes and they will do everything in their power to get the final piece complete.

-A

I'm sure one of the knowledgeable Abrazo gals will answer your question soon though :)

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  • 1 month later...

I believe I already know the answer to these, but wanted to double check. We just completed our home study in VA where 3 visits are required.

Question 1: Is it correct to assume that we would need to update our home study to include 2 more visits? (We originally were not planning to adopt in TX and therefore were not looking to meet their requirements.)

Question 2: VA home studies are good for 1 year and I have read that TX is only valid for 6 months. With that in mind, should we wait to complete the update until closer to time of possible placement? OR…Would we be required to update our home study 6 months after our original VA date in order to satisfy TX requirements anyway?

Any thoughts/insight would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Jen

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Here's the answer: it's six of one and a half dozen of the other!! :rolleyes:

Sorry for all the confusion, but Texas Licensing confuses us, too, when it comes to homestudy requirements.

The bottom line, though, is that whether you have an international homestudy or a homestudy done in accordance with another state's standards, it:

(1) must be done in accordance with Texas requirements

(2) before any placement can happen.

So-- whether you get it "fixed" now or wait 'til later measures up to "a horse apiece" as they say in Texas.

If I were a newbie, I would get my FBI clearances going before orientation (since they're required in nearly every interstate adoption, no matter where you adopt from) but I'd probably hold off on completing homestudy visits until I'd gotten accepted into Abrazo's program, so I'd know doing the study in accordance with Texas standards was a worthy investment.

If I were an againer, I'd probably hold off on the homestudy update, since Texas says the original study, once approved by Texas, is good for matching purposes; I wouldn't worry about scheduling the update visit until I was matched and within 30 days of due date, to ensure that I wasn't having to get repeated updates done unnecessarily.

And if I were an againer whose original study didn't fulfill Texas standards, I'd probably be inclined to get it "up to code" ASAP even though I'd most likely have to pay for an update down the road... just to ensure we were ready to go if a B.O.G. opportunity did present itself.

Hope that helps, y'all!! ;)

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Here's the answer: it's six of one and a half dozen of the other!! :rolleyes:

Sorry for all the confusion, but Texas Licensing confuses us, too, when it comes to homestudy requirements.

The bottom line, though, is that whether you have an international homestudy or a homestudy done in accordance with another state's standards, it:

(1) must be done in accordance with Texas requirements

(2) before any placement can happen.

So-- whether you get it "fixed" now or wait 'til later measures up to "a horse apiece" as they say in Texas.

If I were a newbie, I would get my FBI clearances going before orientation (since they're required in nearly every interstate adoption, no matter where you adopt from) but I'd probably hold off on completing homestudy visits until I'd gotten accepted into Abrazo's program, so I'd know doing the study in accordance with Texas standards was a worthy investment.

If I were an againer, I'd probably hold off on the homestudy update, since Texas says the original study, once approved by Texas, is good for matching purposes; I wouldn't worry about scheduling the update visit until I was matched and within 30 days of due date, to ensure that I wasn't having to get repeated updates done unnecessarily.

And if I were an againer whose original study didn't fulfill Texas standards, I'd probably be inclined to get it "up to code" ASAP even though I'd most likely have to pay for an update down the road... just to ensure we were ready to go if a B.O.G. opportunity did present itself.

Hope that helps, y'all!! ;)

Elizabeth,

Thanks so much for your reply! Much appreciated!

VA also requires FBI clearances with fingerprints so luckily we have that completed. Guessing we'll wait to update our home study if necessary after/around Orientation (Yes, I'm being hopeful here...takes too much energy to worry. :) )

Jen

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