The paperwork is done, or nearly. Maybe the home study is signed off, or you're licensed and waiting on a call that could come any day. Now there's a room to get ready and a lot of advice about helping a child feel safe. This checklist turns the usual adoption welcome home ideas into specific things you can set up in the house this week.

It's written for preparing your home for adoption placement at any age: a newborn from the hospital, a toddler or school-age child from foster care, or a teenager. It also covers how to prepare your house for a foster placement when you get hours of notice instead of weeks. For the emotional side of the move, lean on your agency, your caseworker, your training, and resources like the Child Welfare Information Gateway. This page sticks to the house.

Start with your agency's list, then add the comfort list

If you're licensed for foster care or finishing an adoption home study, your agency has already given you a safety list. Requirements vary by state and agency, so follow theirs exactly. Common items include working smoke detectors, locked medications and cleaning supplies, and a written fire escape plan.

A few basics are worth doing either way:

• Anchor dressers, bookcases and TVs to the wall. The CPSC's Anchor It campaign shows how.
• For a baby, set up the crib for safe sleep: a firm, flat mattress, a fitted sheet, and nothing else inside. The AAP's parent site, healthychildren.org, covers safe sleep in detail.
• Cover outlets, and move blind cords and lamp cords out of reach.
• Keep button batteries and small magnets out of reach. Check remotes, key fobs, musical cards and toys, and use only toys with a screwed-shut battery cover.
• A car seat or booster that fits the child's age and size, installed before pickup. Ask your agency or caseworker what's required.

Once the official list is handled, the rest of this checklist is about comfort. The goal isn't to fix anything. It's to make a new house easier to understand on day one.

A space that's clearly theirs

In short: one bed, one place for their things, and room left for them to make choices.

Many children arrive with very little of their own, sometimes just a bag or two. A claimed space gives them one spot that stays the same every day. It can be a whole bedroom or one corner of a shared room. What matters is that it's clearly theirs and nobody else rearranges it.

• ☐  A made bed with plain, washable bedding. For kids old enough to care, buy two sets in different colors and let them pick which goes on first.
• ☐  One drawer, shelf or bin that belongs only to them, even in a shared room.
• ☐  An empty basket or small suitcase for whatever they bring with them. Unpack it together, and don't throw anything out without asking, even if it looks worn.
• ☐  A hook at their height for a coat or backpack.
• ☐  A plug-in night light, plus a lamp they can switch on themselves if they're old enough.
• ☐  A few bare walls, left open for art, posters or photos they choose later.
• ☐  For kids past the baby stage, one soft toy or blanket on the bed. Choose toys with embroidered eyes and nothing sewn on that could come loose. For babies, the crib stays bare.

Hold off on the name sign. If there's any question about the name a child will go by at home, wait until they tell you. A sign can always go up later.

The same space matters just as much in a foster placement that may be short. If you're wondering whether to mark a child's height during a temporary stay, our guide to gently tracking growth for a foster child who may only stay a while walks through the options.

A family photo book they can hold

In short: one clear photo per page of the people, pets and places they're about to meet, with short labels.

A photo book lets a child see the house before they have to live in it. If your agency or caseworker allows it, send a copy ahead of placement or bring it to pre-placement visits. If not, have it waiting on their bed.

• ☐  Each person who lives in the house, one per page, labeled with a name the child can use now. What they call you can change later.
• ☐  Pets, with their names.
• ☐  The front of the house and the front door.
• ☐  Their bed or room, the bathroom they'll use, and the kitchen table.
• ☐  The car and the seat they'll ride in.
• ☐  School, daycare or a nearby park, if you know it.
• ☐  Two or three pages on a normal day: breakfast, bath, bedtime.

Keep captions short and plain. A few you can adapt:

"This is Jordan. You can call me Jordan."

"This is our kitchen. We eat breakfast here every morning."

"This is Biscuit. She's a dog, and she likes to sleep on the rug."

"This is your bed. The shelf next to it is just for your things."

Match the format to the child. For babies and toddlers, pick a board-page photo book printed on thick card, so there are no plastic sleeves to peel or chew. School-age kids do well with a small printed album. A teen may prefer the same photos in a short digital album; check with the caseworker about what's allowed.

This welcome book is different from a lifebook or memory book, which tells the child's own story and takes more care. We cover that separately in adoption memory book ideas: what to include and what to wait on.

A low-pressure snack corner

In short: a small, always-stocked spot with simple, familiar food and no rules attached.

Some children arrive unsure when the next meal will come, or used to food rules that differ from yours. A snack corner that stays full is a quiet, visible way of showing that food is here. It also skips the awkward "Can I have something?" moment in a house they don't know yet.

• ☐  One low shelf, drawer or basket in the kitchen, in the same place every day.
• ☐  Three to five simple, familiar foods. Ask the caseworker what the child likes and has been eating.
• ☐  Allergies and dietary needs confirmed before you stock it.
• ☐  A cup or water bottle they can use on their own.
• ☐  A refill habit: top it up before it runs low, so it never looks empty.
• ☐  No rules tied to behavior, no earning, and no commentary on what they take.

For kids 3 and up, easy choices include applesauce cups, crackers, cereal bars, bananas and clementines, plus cheese sticks or yogurt on a low fridge shelf. Keep whole grapes, nuts, popcorn and hard candy off the self-serve shelf until at least age 4, and cut grapes lengthwise when you do serve them.

For children under 3, the snack corner is a basket an adult controls. Offer soft foods cut for their age, stay nearby while they eat, and skip whole grapes, popcorn, nuts and hard candy. For a baby, ask which formula they're on and how they're used to being fed, and have that same formula and bottles at home before placement.

Clothes and closet: plan for a size you don't know yet

Even when you know a child's age, you may not know their size until they arrive. Children placed from foster care sometimes come with only a few outfits, and those may not fit well. Buy a small starter set rather than a full wardrobe:

• ☐  Two sets of pajamas.
• ☐  Underwear (or diapers) and socks for a week.
• ☐  Two or three everyday outfits.
• ☐  Grippy socks or slippers, since shoe size is a guess.
• ☐  A coat or rain jacket if the season calls for one.
• ☐  A toothbrush, hairbrush and their own towel.

When you're unsure, buy two neighboring sizes, keep the tags on, and hold on to receipts. Ask your caseworker whether a clothing allowance is available for the placement. For kids old enough to have opinions, leave most of the shopping for after they arrive. Picking their own clothes is one of the first real choices they get to make in a new house.

Once clothes start coming in from your own shopping, hand-me-downs and friends, sort them by size so the ones that fit are easy to grab. For babies and toddlers, our wooden closet dividers mark each size section on the rod: the Newborn Closet Divider Set ($28) covers newborn to 24 months, and the Toddler Closet Dividers ($24) cover 2T–5T. A labeled strip of masking tape on each shelf does the same job for free.

How the checklist changes by age

The three anchors stay the same at every age. What changes is how much the child chooses and how much you control.

Arrival day: keep the welcome low-key

In short: fewer people, fewer plans, and a house that runs close to normal.

It's natural to want a banner and a houseful of relatives. But a child is meeting new people, new rooms and new routines all at once, and a quiet first day is usually easier on everyone. Save the bigger celebration for when they've settled, when you'll have a better sense of what they'd enjoy.

• ☐  Keep the first days to the people who live in the house. Extended family can meet the child later.
• ☐  Plan a simple dinner, ideally something they already know.
• ☐  Give a short tour: their space, the bathroom, the snack corner, and where you'll be at night.
• ☐  Show them how the night light and bathroom light work.
• ☐  Leave the photo book on their bed.
• ☐  Put your phone away for the first hour.

If the call comes today: make the bed, fill the snack basket, grab pajamas and a toothbrush, plug in the night light, and install a car seat that fits. Everything else can wait until you've met the child.

If other children live in the house, prep them too: where the new child will sleep, and which things are shared and which aren't. For age-by-age books and scripts, see our guide for siblings who weren't adopted. And when friends and grandparents ask what they can do, send them our guide on how to support foster and adoptive families. Meals and errands usually help more than an early visit.

You don't need a finished room to welcome a child home. You need a bed that's theirs, a book that shows them who lives here, and food they can find. Start with those three, keep the first days quiet, and let the rest of the house take shape around the child who actually moves in.

Frequently asked questions