Current through Register Vol. 24-18, September 15, 2024
(1) Your staff must complete an adoptive home
study (preplacement report) with the participation of the applicant(s). Contact
with the applicant must include a minimum of three in-person contacts that
include:
(a) An individual interview with
each applicant parent and with each member of the applicant's household,
including children;
(b) A joint
interview with the couple, if the family is a two parent household;
and
(c) An on-site evaluation of
the applicant's home and property.
(2) For the study, your staff must gather
information about and assess the following:
(a) The suitability and fitness of the
applicant(s) to be adoptive parent(s), including completed background checks of
the applicant(s); and
(b)
Identification of child characteristics for which the applicant or applicants
are best suited.
(3) As
required in
RCW
26.33.190(2), you must
document that your agency discussed with the applicant(s) the following:
(a) The concept of adoption as a lifelong
developmental process and commitment;
(b) Relevance of the child's relationship
with siblings and the potential benefit to the child for providing for
continuing relationship and contact between the child and known siblings;
(c) Disclosure of the fact of the
adoption to the child;
(d) The
child's possible questions about birth parents and relatives;
(e) Potential for the child to have feelings
of identity confusion and loss regarding separation from the birth parents;
and
(f) The relevance of a child's
racial, ethnic and cultural heritage.
(4) The home study must identify the sources
for the information gathered, and include the elements in subsection (1)
through (3) in this section as well as the following:
(a) A background check as required in RCW
26.33.-190(3) that includes the examination of state and federal criminal
history check(s) and child abuse and neglect check(s);
(b) Whether the applicant previously applied
for an adoption home study from any entity, review of the completed home
studies and the outcome of the application(s); and
(c) References gathered throughout the
assessment process, including references from each of the applicant's adult
children or documentation of your diligent efforts to contact the adult
children. A minimum of three references, with no more than one relative, are
required.
(5) A
supervisor must sign for approval and denial of the adoption home
study.
(6) Your staff must
reevaluate the applicant(s) suitability for adopting a child each time an
adoptive placement is considered.
