Our Role in Your Process

Our agency exists expressly to help Louisiana families successfully complete their adoption plans. We specialize in the provision of Adoption Home Studies, post placement reports and referral services. We work in coordination with your child placing adoption agency and/or attorney. Sometimes, we come by referral from these agencies (because we have worked with them in the past). More often, we come by referral from families that have used us for their home study.

Our agency has assisted families who have adopted both domestically and internationally throughout Southern Louisiana. We have assisted families from as far south as Grand Isle, Louisiana, north to Alexandria, west to Eunice and east to Vidalia, Louisiana.

Our services generally fall into two categories:
Pre-placement services - this includes referral services and Adoption Home Studies. To complete the Adoption Home Study, we meet with the adoptive parents to collect all the information necessary to satisfy Louisiana State regulations and those outlined by other regulatory bodies involved in your adoption, such as the child placing adoption agency, attorney, or Immigration and Naturalization Services for international adoptive families.

Post-placement services - In domestic adoptions and a few foreign countries the adoption is not finalized before the child is brought into in the adoptive family's home. Because the adoption is not yet finalized, follow up visits by the social worker are required as mandated by the courts. A progress report is then completed by the social worker to assure the courts that the child is thriving in their new home.

In the case of International Adoptions most countries finalize the adoption, prior to the child coming home with their new family. In this case, post placement services are provided according to the requirements of your child placing agency and the foreign country. It is a genuine privilege to meet the new addition to your family and celebrate the completion of the process with your family.

"What if we still have questions?"
Deciding to adopt can be a long and difficult decision. Once you've reached the point of knowing that you are meant to be adoptive parents, the other questions get much easier. Here are a few common questions that we hear from adoptive parents:

Should we begin the home study or wait until we've hired an adoption agency or attorney?
As long as you are certain of your decision to adopt a child, you may start the home study, prior to selecting your child placing agency/attorney. We will ask a few individual questions to get an idea of your direction and will be honest if we think there is reason to wait.

Can you recommend an adoption agency?
Yes. We work with many top quality agencies and have enjoyed our professional relationship with them and the families that have used our services. Our past experience and knowledge of adoption agencies often enables us to make a recommendation of an agency or choice of agencies that will suit your needs. Agencies often specialize in adoptions from particular countries. We can help you make an informed decision on which agencies will provide the services you desire.

How long does the home study take?
This is an important question to ask when you "shop around" for a home study provider. Usually, at the point a family decides they would like to adopt, they are more than ready to get started. You deserve to be your home study providers priority. We find most of our families are on the "fast track" and motivated to move the process along as quickly as possible. We customarily complete the home study in less than two months. Please feel free to let us know if you have a special need. We will let you know up front if we can meet your time frame.

Are there any hidden costs in completing the home study?
The home study fee you are quoted by us will cover everything required for the adoption home study, except for the adoptive family's physicals, criminal background check ($10 for each member of the household over 18 years old) and any incidental charges for copies of birth certificates, marriage licenses, etc.

Post Placement Services are quoted separately and vary according to the number of visits/reports required.

Outside of domestic adoptions, what countries have you seen children come from?
The primary countries we have seen over the past couple years have been Russia and China. The other countries are Guatemala, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, India and Korea.

Other Online Resources
Click here for some additional online resources.

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ADOPTION HOME STUDIES, Inc.
Mary Marrs, LCSW
(985) 264-8982
mary@lahomestudy.com