Carolina Adoption Services has been helping families in South Carolina adopt for over 10 years. Our South Carolina Director, Jill Corrigan, has an office in Columbia and we have homestudy social workers across the state to assist you. Our goal is to help your dreams of family come true through adoption.
South Carolina Homestudies
Homestudy/Pre-Adoptive Assessment in South Carolina is different from any other state. Your homestudy must be done by a Certified Investigator licensed by South Carolina DSS. They should also have a social work license.
A homestudy can loosely be defined as an educational process designed to help your social worker learn more about your ability to parent and provide a stable home, to teach you about adoption and its affect on children and families, and to prepare you to parent a child whose experiences and history are very different from your own. Everyone who hopes to adopt must have an approved homestudy. Depending on the agency, the worker, and the prospective parents’ cooperation, the process can take from six weeks to six months. A social worker will visit your home. The number of visits may vary depending on the state, country, agency or worker, but generally there are 4-6 meetings during the homestudy process.
Items You May Need for a South Carolina Homestudy
Specific requirements for home studies vary by state and agency, so be sure to ask for a list of the items and information your agency needs. The following items are commonly required during the home study process:
Many agencies require trainings for prospective adoptive parents prior to or during the homestudy process. These trainings help prospective parents better understand the needs of children waiting for families and help families decide what type of child or children they could parent most effectively. CAS will assist international adoption families in accessing the required education.
Questions You May Be Asked During Your Homestudy
During homestudy meetings with your worker, you can expect to answer questions about your background, your education, your job history, your marriage, your leisure activities, your religion (particularly for religiously affiliated agencies), and your experiences with children. For instance, the worker may ask:
The goal of homestudies is to help the worker locate the best home for each child it places, and make good matches between parents and children. If you have questions about the study, ask your social worker or agency.
Adoptions in South Carolina:
Domestic Adoption
If you are adopting domestically and live in South Carolina, we will partner with any agency, state or attorney of your choosing to find the child that is right for you. We will provide homestudy services and post adoption services to your family to make your adoption successful.
International Adoption
If you are adopting internationally and live in South Carolina we can provide full service adoption services to your family. CAS has many countries with which we work; we are COA accredited and Hague accredited. Each of these accreditations assures that the services provided to you will meet the highest standards. We can also provide homestudy-only services to you if you are working with another placing agency. Our homestudy team works closely with many placing agencies around the country and with U.S. Immigration, thus possessing the knowledge and experience needed to help you navigate the intricacies of either an international or domestic adoption.
Learn More About Your Adoption Options Here…
Post Adoption Services in South Carolina:
Our social workers have many years of experience with post placement reports for:
Services can be provided on domestic and international adoptions until the adoption is final. Services are provided on international adoptions according to the requirements of the agency, country, or needs of the family. Post placement reports are done in a family’s home to assure the overall well being of the family and child.
Let us help finalize your adoption!
About Jill, CAS South Carolina Director…
Jill Corrigan, Certified Adoption Investigator, Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker Supervisor has worked in the field of adoption since March 2003. She finds adoption to be her life’s passion. She has worked individually, as a Director at a Special Needs Adoption Agency, as a Director of other private nonprofit adoption agencies; but has been with CAS since 2007 in some shape or form. She is excited to be back as director. Helping children find forever families. “It is a great thing to help those often without voices find a family.” Jill also runs her own private practice. She has several therapists that work with children and families. She estimates that she works on at least 50 adoptions a year. Jill also enjoys teaching. She is a professor of Social Work at the University of South Carolina teaching new master’s level students about the importance of people as individuals and part of families, a strong code of ethics and a healthy sense of humor.