Over in the Adoption Forums, I saw a question posted about issues in your family that could affect your home study. The person posting the question has a brother who was convicted of child molestation. He never molested her, and she only sees him at the family's annual Christmas party. Her question was whether having a child molester in the extended family would prevent her from being able to adopt.

The short answer to this question is no – you will not be prevented from adopting solely because a blood relative has abused children. However, your home study could be denied if you do not appreciate the risk that this person poses to your adopted child. For example, if you plan to work full-time and have your convicted child molester relative watch your baby, you will very likely have your home study denied.

If the convicted child abuser lives in your house with you, your home study might be denied. You need to be able to show that you will provide your child with a safe environment. Because you cannot keep a child safe 24 hours a day with a convicted child molester living in your home, few social workers would approve this arrangement.

However, you cannot, and should not, be held responsible for the bad choices that extended family members make. It would be wrong to deny parenthood to any person who is related to a child abuser. Child abuse is not genetic or contagious, so there is no reason to assume that you will harm a child just because your brother, father, uncle, or cousin harmed a child.

If you have a child abuser in your extended family, be prepared to answer questions about how you plan to keep your child safe. Do you plan to bring your child to the family Christmas parties where the relative will have access to your child? If so, what measures will you take to keep your child safe? Do you understand the damage that your relative inflicted upon his victims? Or do you see his actions as not that big of a deal?

How you feel about what your relative has done will go a long way toward determining how much this information affects the outcome of your home study. If you take the safety of your child seriously, this information will likely not prevent your home study from being approved.

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Background Concerns

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