Buckner completes a thorough screening and evaluation of prospective adoptive parents prior to approving them to adopt internationally.
Your return of the completed application/home study materials is your admission into our international program and signifies to us your desire to proceed with our process. Your application/homes tudy file should include the following:
• International Adoption Application
• Copy of death certificate or divorce decree from former marriages
• Affidavit of Health Insurance
• Adoptive Home study Questionnaire Reference Letters (4)
• Copy of last 3 years 1040 forms
• Firearms Safety Form
• Criminal / CANRIS Release
• Directions to your home
• Copy of social security cards
• Copy of driver's license
• Copy of current marriage certificate
• Other Release Forms
Once your home study file is complete, it will be forwarded by the Clinical Director to your social worker with a request to initiate the study process.
• After a file has been completed and it has passed an initial screening, the home study interview process can begin.
• Families are interviewed by the Buckner social worker on at least two occasions, one of which is in the family home.
• When the report is completed, the clinical team officially reviews the home study and makes the final determination if a family will be approved to proceed in the process.
• Buckner can complete home studies for Texas families whether they adopt through Buckner or adopt through another adoption agency.
• Buckner also works with families who reside outside of Texas. Families residing outside of Texas should work with a Buckner recommended agency in their state.
• Buckner will work as a team with the home study agency the family chooses.
• The completed home study will be reviewed as a clinical team and a final determination will be made if a family will be approved to proceed in the process.
Education
The purpose of the educational aspect of the study is to help you understand the special issues related to adopting a child from another country and to prepare you as much as possible for the process and the experience you may have traveling to a foreign county.
Assessment
The assessment process is intended to help you look at your own relationship and environment and evaluate your strengths and your stresses to determine whether adopting a child from another culture is right for you at the current time. For most people, this process is helpful in preparing for the changes that will occur in your lives by the addition of a child.
The assessment process involves:
• individual interviews
• joint interviews
• interviews with any children or others living in your household, either full or part time
• home visit with all family members present
• written or phone contact with each adult child living outside of the home
The assessment process may also involve a request for psychological testing, contact with other collaterals, or a recommendation for counseling prior to the completion of a home study or placement of a child.
