CONFIDENTIAL PERSONAL HISTORY

NAME ____________________                

DATE _____________________

The information requested in this personal history is considered strictly confidential.  The questions asked are based on an assumption that you have already given careful thought to your application and the intended purpose is to have you share your thinking.

You will find some of the questions thought-provoking, allow sufficient time to consider each question carefully and to answer as fully as you are able.

Try to give a quick answer to each question in under an hour, then go back and add more to each question. Otherwise you will spend a long time on the first questions and rush when getting to the last questions.

It will also save you from answering a question before it is asked, and then repeating yourslelf. 

Why are you applying to adopt intercountry?

State your motivation for this application

Occupation

What is the nature of your current employment/occupation?

 

Attitude to employment?

 

How did you prepare for your job?

 

Are there difficulties?

 

What are the satisfactions?

 

What’s good/bad about your job?

How do you deal with these?

Financial Status

Describe your present financial situation and include any special problems you may have in this area.

Nature of previous employment.

Including dates and reason for leaving.

Education

What schools did you attend?

Including dates, names of schools.

What memories do you have of primary school and secondary school?

• Is there anything significant that stands out in your mind?
• Did you enjoy it?
• Were you encouraged?

University/third level education

Including dates, names of establishments.

What memories do you have of your University years?

• Is there anything significant that stands out in your mind?
• Did you enjoy it?
• Were you encouraged?

 

What did you like/dislike?

 

Any ambitions for future career while you were at school?

Did they change once at University?

Reasons for career choice.

 

The kind of person you are

Be prepared to answer a number of questions about your sexuality, even if they are not part of the template provided by your social worker. This is normal and should be part of everyone’s evaluations.

See FAQ – How can adoption professionals help LGBT applicants? (Includes questions from the Spanish framework) to have an idea of what can reaonsably be expected. You will find that the spocial worker is likely to be more embarassed to talk about your sexuality than you will be.

Describe the kind of person you are.

 

What is your philosophy of life?

 

How do you think others perceive you?

 

How would you like to be perceived?

 

Describe the best and worst parts of your life.

• What made them the best and the worst?
• What gives you pleasure in life?
• What kind of things upset you?

 

What do you do when you are upset and angry?

 

What are your hopes and aspirations for the future?

 

Social/recreational

What are your social and recreational activities?

Hobbies and interests – how do you spend your free time?

How do you imagine they will be impacted by the adoptions?

 

Religion

What role, if any, does religion play in your life?

 

How do you plan to integrate this role into the education of your child?

 

Health

Describe the state of your health

• Do you have any health problems at this time?
• What significant illnesses have you had?
• Are you now under the care of a doctor?

 

Nature of past and current state of health of immediate family

Physical and psychiatric.

 

Your history of drugs and or alcohol abuse

 

History of drugs and or alcohol abuse with any member of immediate family.

 

Background

 

Describe where you grew up

 

How would you describe your childhood?

 

Different to what children experience today?

 

Describe some significant childhood memories

 

Family description

For each family member, list:

• Name
• Age
• Occupations
• If they have children
• The children’s names and ages
• Do they live with their partner, husband, parents or alone
• Where are they from and where to they live now?
• What do they do for a living?

 

Family relationships

What are your parents, brothers and sisters like as individuals?

 

How do you get along with each other?

 

How do you get along with them, now, and as you grew up?

 

Criminal record of anyone in your immediate family?

 

Parents

What memories do you have of your mother during childhood?
How do you see her as a person now?

 

What memories do you have of your father during childhood?
How do you see him as a person now?

 

Which parent were you closest to?
Why?
Is it still the same in adulthood?

 

As an adult, how do you see your parents as a couple?
How do you perceive their relationship – both when you were young and now?

 

Who was around when you were young?

 

Who made the decisions?
Controlled money?

 

Differences/arguments – how did your parents resolve these?

 

Did they ever argue in front of the kids?

 

Anything your parents were good at (parenting)?

 

How were you and your siblings disciplined?

 

How would you describe yourself during your teenage years?

Relating to your parents, and relating to the rest of your family, and relating to others?

Death of family members

For each member, list:

• Name and age
• Circumstances
• Your relationship
• What you remember most
• How you felt
• How you coped
• What kind of support you had
• How the family members coped
• How this death has affected you

 

Relationship: Marriage, Civil Partnership or Civil Cohabitation

Where and when did you meet and what age were you?

 

What attracted you to your partner?

 

Describe your relationship as it is now in terms of qualities/values

• How has it come to be that way?
• How successful is your relationship?
• How does your marriage fulfil your needs?
• Did you overcome them? How
• Are there any recurring issues?

No relationship is without rough spots; describe some of yours

 

Describe the kind of person your partner is

 

Describe the kind of person you think your partner sees you as

  

Describe how you would like your partner to see you.

 

Previous relationships

 

What age did you have your first girlfriend/boyfriend?

 

How was that for you – serious?

 

What age did you start dating seriously?

 

Why did these relationships end?

 

Relationship with children (if any)

What is your legal relationship to your children?

 

What do you feel about being a parent?

 

What satisfactions has being a parent brought you?

 

How do you think your parents see you?

 

What is each of your children like?

 

Do(es) your child(ren) know of your interest for adoption?
If yes, what is their reaction and how do you think they will feel and behave towards the new child?

 

Adoption

Describe what your think it will be like to be an adoptive parent?

 

What do you think children inherit from their birth parents?

 

Do you think a child should be told about his/her parents and how he/she cam to live with you?

 

How do you think birth parents feel about not being able to care for their own child?
How will they see you as adoptive parents?

 

How important is contact between them and the children/child for whom you are adopting and as the child is growing up?

 

Having an adopted child is different from having a child of your own. In what way do you think this difference will show?

How will you cope with it?

Racism, discrimination and bullying

What is your understanding of racism, discrimination and bullying?

 

Have you experienced racism/discrimination and/or bullying either personally or as a witness?

 

How did you feel?

 

Did you do anything about it?

 

On reflection what did you learn from these experiences?

• How do you think these issues will affect your child?
• How will you help your child to overcome these difficulties?