Does Indiana Require Pre-Adoptive Homestudies?

Yes, Indiana Code § 31-19-7-1(a) provides: “A child may not be placed in a proposed adoptive home without the prior written approval of a licensed child placing agency or the local office approved for that purpose by the department.” This includes a criminal check, as defined in Indiana Code § 31-9-2-22.5, of all persons, at least eighteen years of age, residing in the proposed adoptive home. Indiana Code § 31-19-7-1(b). Furthermore, the prior written approval must be filed with the petition for adoption, pursuant to Indiana Code § 31-19-7-7-3. Interestingly, the previously cited statute does not require the filing of the home study with the petition for adoption. Typically, we, at Adoption Attorneys Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C. (“Kirsh & Kirsh”), file what we call a “Dear Judge Letter” with the petition for adoption. As the name suggests, the letter begins “Dear Judge.” The adoption agency that completes the home study provides us a letter verifying that the adoption agency has approved the prospective adoptive parents for an adoptive placement and will supervise the placement and submit a report in accordance with Indiana Code § 31-19-8.

Isabella Caprario authored an excellent article about home studies, which addresses many of the commonly asked questions and concerns about home studies.

For more information about adopting a child in Indiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Michigan, and any state other than New York, please contact us at Kirsh & Kirsh.

Additionally, if you are pregnant and considering giving up your baby for adoption, or more correctly, making an adoption plan for your baby, please contact us. We, at Kirsh & Kirsh — or the “Kirsh Boys,” as the adoption attorneys at Kirsh & Kirsh are sometimes called – Steve, and his brothers, Joel and Rob, and his son, Grant, pride ourselves on answering questions about adoption and explaining the process without pressure or judgment. We cannot make adoption an easy choice, but we can make it less scary by removing some of the unknowns. Ultimately, a birth parent will have to decide if adoption is in their own best interests and the best interests of their child. We, at Kirsh & Kirsh, will not and cannot make that decision for anyone, but we can provide information and answers to questions – that way, you can make a well-informed decision.

Our contact information is below. We will answer your questions and provide you with the information you seek, without cost or obligation on your part. In other words, talking to us is FREE and does NOT mean you ever have to talk or text with us, again. The Kirsh Boys have 90 YEARS OF COMBINED EXPERIENCE practicing adoption law. We can help you in finding an AMAZING, WONDERFUL, adoptive home for your precious baby, whether you live in Noblesville or Indianapolis, Bloomington or Columbus, Evansville or New Albany, or South Bend or Goshen, Huntington or Ft. Wayne, or any Indiana county or city in between, or ANYWHERE in Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, or Michigan.

We have lots of wonderful, carefully screened, loving families, FROM INDIANA AND ALL OVER THE COUNTRY (married, single, Lesbian, and Gay) who cannot wait to welcome a baby into their hearts and homes and are happy to assist with living expenses to the fullest extent allowed by law.

You can call, text, and or email us anytime -call: 317-575-5555, text: 317-721-2030, email: AdoptionSupport@kirsh.com, or Facebook message: https://www.facebook.com/KirshandKirsh/. We answer our office phone 24 hours a day, every single day. We try to respond to emails and text messages within minutes of receipt.

POSITIVE ADOPTION LANGUAGE DISCLAIMER:  Please understand that these blog posts are written in a way to use language that people use when searching for help with their adoption plans.  Unfortunately, while all of us understand what positive adoption language means, most expectant moms that come to us at first do not understand what that means. The most common search term on the Internet for expectant moms is “how do I give up my baby for adoption”.  If we do not include those words in our blog posts, and instead put “how do I create an adoption plan for my baby” then our website will not show up in most expectant moms’ search results in Google.