Your Missouri Adoption Home Study, Minus The Mystery
The home study has a branding problem. The name suggests someone is coming to judge your house, which sends people into a panic about regrouting a bathroom nobody asked about.
That is not what this is. The home study is about who you are as a family, not what your kitchen looks like. We do need to confirm your home is safe. We do not need it to be photogenic.
Here is what actually happens, what it costs, and how long it takes.
What a Missouri Home Study Requires
A home study is a written assessment, completed by a licensed provider, that a court needs before it will place a child with you. Required in every state. There is no version of adoption that skips it, with one narrow exception for stepparent adoptions where every required consent is already in place.
If you live in Missouri, that assessment has to come from a provider licensed in Missouri. We are, through the Missouri Department of Social Services, license #00124113.
We complete Missouri home studies for:
- Domestic infant adoption, whether through our program or another professional’s
- Private adoption, including when you have matched independently
- International adoption, including Hague-compliant assessments
- Embryo adoption
- Foster care adoption
The Process, in Order
- Apply. We accept six new families a month.
- Paperwork, in a portal. Our virtual home study portal keeps everything in one place, which matters at 11pm the night before something is due.
- Meet your home study case worker. Someone specific, licensed, who knows Missouri.
- The home visit. Yes, we look at your home. No, we are not scoring your decor.
- Training. Required, and also genuinely useful.
- Your report. Written, reviewed, and delivered to the appropriate authorities.
- Post-placement visits, after a child is placed, which Missouri requires.
What It Costs
Published on our site, itemized, with no line items that appear later.
Why Families Choose Us Over a National Agency
We are a boutique on purpose. We cap home study enrollment at six families a month, which is either a feature or a frustration depending on the week, but it means nobody here is a case number.
We have served over 8,000 families and completed over 7,000 home studies since 1998. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Hague accredited, and we are still answering our own phone.
FAQ
Can I use a Missouri home study for a Kansas adoption?
The short answer is Yes! Your home study has to come from a provider licensed in the state where you reside.
We are licensed in both states, so if you live on either side of the state line we can complete your home study without handing you off to anyone else. Missouri license #00124113. Kansas license #36622-4.
One related limit worth knowing: a home study is approved for a specific type of adoption. A study prepared for foster care adoption cannot be used for a domestic infant adoption, and an international study is different again. Changing paths requires an update and re-approval, not a brand new study. If you already have a home study and you are not sure whether it covers what you need, send it to us and we will tell you straight.
What disqualifies a family?
Less than you think, and almost nothing automatically.
Here is what does not disqualify you. Being single. Renting rather than owning. A modest income. Being older. A disability or chronic health condition, which Missouri law specifically protects: under RSMo 453.070.8, a disability or disease cannot be used to find a prospective adoptive parent unfit unless there is a specific showing that it creates a substantial and significant risk of harm to a child.
Criminal history is the question people are most afraid to ask about, so let us answer it plainly. Convictions for non-violent offenses, things like theft, fraud, drug activity, or a DUI, are a real concern and they do trigger a more thorough evaluation. They do not automatically end the conversation. We look at how many, how long ago, and how serious. Violent offenses and offenses against children are a different matter.
The most useful thing we can tell you is this: tell us before you apply. Nearly every situation that becomes a genuine problem became one because it surfaced late, not because of what it was. We would far rather have an honest conversation at the start than find something in a background check you were afraid to mention.
Our own requirements are short. You must be at least 25. If you are married, one year of marriage at the time of application, and living together for a year before marrying counts toward that. There should be no more than 60 years between your child and the oldest adoptive parent.
Courts have the final say on any adoption. But if you are wondering whether something in your history rules you out, ask us. That question costs nothing.
Do you serve all of Missouri or just Kansas City?
How long is a Missouri home study valid?
Twelve months.
After that it needs to be updated rather than rebuilt from scratch, and that distinction matters to both your timeline and your budget. An update, sometimes called an addendum, revisits what has changed since the original: income, household members, address, health, anything that has moved. It is not a second home study and it is not priced like one.
You may also need an addendum before the twelve months are up, which catches families off guard. A move, a new job, a marriage, a change in what you are open to, or switching from one adoption path to another can each trigger one.
Our fees for updates and addendums are published alongside everything else. fee schedule