Adoption
Adoption Costs?
DH and I are possibly looking into adoption. We have just started researching all about it. Everyone that I talk to says that it is very costly. Can anyone give us a rough estimate of what adoption fees tend to be??
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Re: Adoption Costs?
With our agency, domestic adoption ranges between 20-25k. International adoption has a bigger range - 18-50k (Russia being the most expensive process.)
My agency gives us a break down, which is very helpful. They are:
Application $75
Background Checks $100
Seminar $300
Homestudy $1000
Outreach Fee $1250
Match Fee $5000
Finalization Fee $7000
Attorney Fees are separate as we higher our own attorney. The agency estimates these fees to be between 2,000 and 4,000.
I've seen higher fees on here in relation to stuff so it might have to do with where you live. We live in Oklahoma. Hope that helps.
You will find that it varies depending on the type of adoption you do (foster / domesitc / international), and that there is even a huge variance within adoption types.
We are doing domestic adoption through an agency. Agency fees are 19k, and we expect the total adoption to be somewhere around 20-22k. Some families doing DA end up paying 40k+. Others pay almost nothing. It all just depends.
IMO, the best path is for you to decide which type of adoption you are interested in. From there, work on finding a program that fits your budget. There is a program out there for just about everybody and every budget.
We are working privately with a few attorney's right now but we are also in line with the agency who did our home study. Our agency has a sliding scale fee --- where they base adoption costs on your income. For us, this is a plus and our total costs with lawyer fees will be about $11,000 - $11,500.
With our attorney's, it varies. A friend of mine just did a private adoption and her costs were only about $5,000.
You'll find cost varies widely. Were you all thinking about doing foster/adopt, domestic, or international?
The typical cost of an adoption seems to be around $25k - $30k. We were THRILLED to find an agency with a total, flat fee of $18,500.
It really varies by the type of adoption you are interested in. I suggest a book like Adoption for Dummies, which lays out the types of adoption and the ways to go about them, and see what feels right to you. That can start to give you a better idea.
Foster/adopt is very low cost. Domestic adoption can range from the mid-teens up to close to $50K, from the research we did. International adoption fees differ based on the country and how much you are going to travel to the country.
When we were researching domestic infant adoption, fees we encountered ranged from $17K to $46K.
Don't forget there are some companies that offer adoption reimbursement, and there is a federal tax credit (though that is set to expire this year).
For domestic infant adoptions, in my area -
the fees at the Catholic Social Service offices are about $10K-$12K.
If we use an attorney for a private adoption, we were quoted about $15K.
A friend used an local agency and paid $23K.