cost of adoption?

JillAly

I know it varies from international to domestic and from city to city.  I've heard numbers all over the place from different websites.  I'm just wondering what your experience has been.  How much total do you think it will cost? 

We're on our last IVF and starting to look into adoption.  IVF has drained us financially so I'm just trying to get a better sense of whether we can even afford to adopt.

Thanks!

Dr.Loretta

It depends on the route you take (domestic, international, foster-adopt) and how you go about it (private, law firm, agency, facilitator). Foster-adopt is extremely low-cost, some agencies charge on a sliding scale based on income, some offer more services than others, etc. Some agencies require fees up front, but in my experience most have a fee schedule where you pay fees for just that step that you are in the adoption process (eg, application fee, homestudy fee, placement fee, etc). We've been able to mostly come up with the $ as we go along, with the exception of the placement fee.

For domestic infant adoption, we found a range of $17-46K using an agency when we were researching.

There are some low-interest loans you can take out, there are some grants available, and there is the adoption tax credit available as well.

MayDayGirl

Ours will be around $15k for an AA adoption.

CaptainSerious

I know it's tough to think about whether adoption might even be a choice for you if you can't pin down the cost, but as frustrating as it is, Dr.L. gave you the best answer possible.

The first thing I recommend anyone considering adoption to do is learn a little bit about adoption in general, the issues associated with it, and the different kinds of adoption and their processes.  From there, you can get a better idea of if it's something you might want to look further into.  If it is, the next step is to pick the type of adoption that best fits your family and start researching agencies.

That's when you'll really start to get a solid idea of what it might cost.  Just beware, we had a poll here not too long ago that indicated that most of us are paying more than what the agency told us.  So when you research agencies, it's important to really have them clarify what is--and isn't--included.  Don't take, everything but outside agency "fees" as an answer; get a break-down of what those fees are, exactly.

To get you started on some basic adoption research, I recommend Adoption for Dummies, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Adoption, or The Complete Adoption Book.

Good luck, and please feel free to post here and/or ask us any other questions you may have!

JillAly

Thanks so much for the book recommendations.  We went to an adoption seminar given by one agency and learned some but it seems like so much does vary.  We'll narrow down our options and look into grants, etc.  I'm so glad this board is here!

jewele803

We are pending finalization, but I think all in, we are just about $20K.  Our agency has sliding scale and we were in the top tier. 

*Erin&Mike*

After all is said and done-including travel, homestudy, placement, and some BM expenses....around $23k for AA adoption. 

Amy720

Like previous posters said, it all depends on the type of adoption.  After all was said and done (including home study, travel, adoption agency fees, finalization fees) we spent close to $50,000 (our agency had a flat fee of $40,000).

ColoRxGirl

We are planning on $25-30K all in for agency + attorney on retainer.

GLynn2009

We are not done yet but I am planning for about $5,000. Our is very different for the normal. Our was the first adoption from Canada under the Hague to the US per immagration. We did a private IA adoption. I am at $3,500 as of today and we still have to finalize.