What Is a Home Study for Adoption in Ontario and How Do I Pass It?
A home study is an assessment of you and your home by an adoption practitioner to decide whether you are ready to adopt. In Ontario, the SAFE homestudy is mandatory for public and private adoption, and it involves four to six interviews over about four to six months.
You must also complete the 27-hour PRIDE training. For Indigenous children, SPIRIT training and the HEART homestudy tool are alternatives. In a private adoption placing a child from within Canada, the licensee must give a Director a report of the homestudy of the proposed adoptive parent. In a private adoption, the ministry must approve the proposed adoption plan before the child is placed. During the first six months of the adjustment period, the practitioner must make at least three visits. International adoption also requires a homestudy, and it must be updated if no child proposal arrives within two years.
Stepchild and relative adoptions differ: no practitioner has to assess you unless the judge requires it, but a relative living outside Canada means the international process and a SAFE homestudy. Exactly which records and references are checked, and what could cause a problem, depends on your situation and the type of adoption, so ask your practitioner or a lawyer before you begin.
Key takeaways
- The SAFE homestudy is mandatory for public and private adoption and involves four to six interviews over about four to six months.
- The 27-hour PRIDE training is also required, with SPIRIT training and the HEART homestudy tool as alternatives for adopting Indigenous children.
- For stepchild and relative adoptions, no practitioner has to assess you unless the judge requires it, but adopting a relative who lives outside Canada follows the international process, which includes a SAFE homestudy.
- International adoption needs a homestudy before you leave Ontario, and it must be updated if no child proposal arrives within two years.