Homestudy...what Homestudy?

Can I tell you that the homestudy is a joke? OK, I know it is necessary, but for $2500 in the state of California, I feel like there needs to some sort of update of the system. Maybe it's because we have children, maybe it's because the social worker was watching us interact with our kids while we were talking to her, but there was really nothing to it.

I picked up the downstairs as if we were having someone come in to talk to us, but the house pretty much looked as it normally does. I appreciate you people that go to the efforts that you do to conform your house to the standards of a clean room, but I honestly don't have the energy. And once again, I must reiterate, you really don't have to do that. Someone posted on one of the China boards that I read, "What did you do to make the house smell nice when your social worker came to visit?" I had to laugh at that! Seriously, my golden retriever, Timmy, was due to go to the groomer the next day and was very stinky. To top it off, since he is very affectionate, I was trying to keep him occupied by feeding him rawhide, which has the adverse effect of flatulence. Timmy, not one to disappoint, decided to let loose halfway during the session. I'm sure she was trying to figure out who the heck was having the gas issue in the family, and the dog was sitting right at her feet. Poor woman.

Anyway, I know what people will say about not regreting spending the money once I have the baby in my arms...etc, etc. But you know what? I think I still have a right to have an opinion about how my money is being spent and what it is going for. As I said previously, I think the homestudy system should change. The paperwork submitted for the homestudy should stay the same. However, I almost think there should be interviews/levels to this process , and people should be screened accordingly and priced accordingly depending on complication level/family history, etc. I'm not saying this because I mind psychological profiling; rather, it's because we didn't get much of what I would consider an interview at all. This is a good thing, I guess, in the land of social work. If they look at your paperwork, talk to you, basically go over what you have written, and know what to write up, then I guess you are an OK person. But in the end, I thought to myself and said to my husband, "That was one expensive interview!"

What do others think? I guess the way I view an agency fees is that they come through in the end with your dossier and helping you out in China, so that makes that money truly worth it. And well, the government fees, while expensive, that's the government, and they do some pretty extensive checks, it is an important document (I-171), it is objective and is the same across the board. I don't mean to rant either. It's just when we're investing money into a process, I guess I get irritated with the parts of it that I feel are extremely overpriced. Am I being irrational? Is there more to this than I understand? In our case, there sure didn't seem to be.