I don’t understand it, either. I have friends who adopted two little girls, the husband’s great-nieces, a few years ago. They live in a trailer home, not fancy but a totally decent place to live. They had to make a number of changes before they were allowed to adopt. “Clean” wasn’t enough.
They also had to go through background checks and the like although both of them work jobs that require that, anyway.
You are right about the lifestyle. I was in a home a couple of years ago that was very hoarded and dirty. The woman said “I haven’t got around to cleaning lately.” From the looks of the place, she hadn’t cleaned any time this millenium.
I bought a house for renting. One tenant was not to have animals by probate order. She did, and I made a 2:00 a.m. check and found the dog, which has pooped everywhere. The little child was sitting in the poop, eating cereal with flies everywhere. I called the police. Social services took the child. The mother had rights terminated. She is still mad at me. Screw that. I could care less.