How are you financing adoption?

MissyNWill

I gotta admit, the "sticker shock" is killing me!  We are an average couple wondering how other average couples finance adoption.  

 

Go_Dawgs

We drained 90% of our savings and also borrowed $10k from family.  We sold a car and downgraded to something really cheap, and used the sale money to pay back the family loan.

swanck

Well, my husband and I are taking it on a little at a time.

We are doing a TShirt fundraiser that is bringing in just a few hundred dollars.  And we've had a few people/family members give us small gifts.  

It's helpful that our agency breaks down the fee into a pay schedule.  So we have been able to pay so far as we go.

So far it's been a few hundred at a time.  And are saving for each payment as it comes.  

If we were to get placed before we had it saved, we have found a credit union that will give us a good personal loan.   

OKitty

Perhaps a dumb question, but can you take out a HELOC (home equity line of credit)? I have no ideas about the rules for that, although DH is sure that it is possible and what he plans to do for our financing.

Thanks!

farmweddinggirl

We cashed in two CDs that my husband had (that pre-dated our marriage) and tucked away as much as we could for about a year.  That got us about 2/3 of the way to what our adoption cost.  The rest we put on a credit card that we got specifically to use for adoption expenses (which had no interest or fees for the first year).

But yes, the sticker shock is huge for adoption, and like with many major investments in life, plan to pay more than you originally think you will.  We had estimated around 25K (based on initial conversations with our agency) and it will actually be around 32K or a bit more when all is said and done.

amm78

My grandfather paid our agency's fee for us right before he passed away... he and my grandmother adopted three times, so he knew exactly what we were/are going through. 

The rest (travel, legal fees, possible BM expenses) are coming from our savings account, which we are trying to continuously build up. 

baze2

We have it in a special account. We have been saving all our lives (both are VERY big savers although DH is FRUGAL by some standards)...It is invested in mutual funds but can liquidate at any point as we need it. This has not taken from our retirement funds/dream funds/emergency funds..it is simply our baby fund. 

Dr.Loretta

We sold a rental property that DH had and set that $ aside for adoption. I've seen fundraisers, asking family for $, taking out loans, holding garage sales, starting an Etsy shop, and taking a second job.

On the back end, we were able to take advantage of an adoption reimbursement program at DH's work, and the adoption tax credit.

GL

rach2100

We are dealing with an agency that breaks down the fee into a pay schedule over time.  X amount due during application; X amount due at match; X amount due when the baby is born, etc.  

We do have savings to cover most of the expenses; we also took a small personal load at our credit union...for the 'extras' that may pop up and the baby necessities as well.

GL!

artletzler

We have a Home Equity Line of Credit to help us with the large placement fee.  We've used our savings for the homestudy and lawyer fees.  We really really hope that we'll have success before the adoption tax credit disappears to help us re-pay the line of credit, but we can't count on that - the advantage of the Line of Credit is the low interest rate only on the amount borrowed.  There are some penalties to be aware of but overall we felt it was our best option.

TheNextWest

Since the twins came to us VERY quickly, with NO time to save, we had to use the family first loan. The only bad part is it was supposed to be paid off in three years, but since we weren't getting our tax credit, we weren't able to do that. However, we finally got the ATC this year (two actually) and were able to pay the loan off in full.

 

What we didn't use from the ATC on the adoption loan and to catch us up on bills, we put into savings for the next one. For this next one, we also have some fundraising ideas.

silliestbunny

I know this sounds silly but once we said it was our goal and made it a priority, it became much easier. 

We called ourselves "adoption poor" for about a year.  That meant no fancy dinners, my shopping halted (that was a good thing!), no Target trips except for essentials, etc. 

GLynn2009

We took our travel savings for two years to pay for the adoption and we like to travel.....

2ndTimeEpiphany

We are very, very lucky.   My parents are fronting us the money to pay the agency.   My husband gets an adoption reimbursement up to $10,000 from his company and that will all go back to my parents.  We will also take advantage of the tax credit to help pay them back as well.

 

I know they are more than happy to help - they want me to have a child so badly... but I still feel overwhelmed with the emotion sometimes that they would be willing to help us.

Smiley_grl52

DH's parents got us a loan in their name because we couldn't get one for lack of anything to put up for colateral. We pay on it every month. Our agency has stages for paying and so that helps. DH gets a bonus every 3 or 4 months and that also helps. We did get a small gift of cash from his grandparents as well. It was enough to make one monthly payment on the loan. Our agency told us their fees at almost $18K but there are pass through fees (birth mother expenses) that will be tacked on shortly after we get a baby. So it may cost a more at the end.

skoorbnibor

we spent nearly 90k getting pregnant with our 1st child, so sticker shock didnt apply to us... but we are now broke! 

We are taking out a loan and then we are paying it back with adoption allowances from my husbands company. we are just starting out, but we are looking for an agency that will allow payments as well 

HannaB

Savings + gifts from family + we got a (very small) grant.

If we're blessed enough to get to adopt again, we'll probably have to take out loans.

We'll get $2500 from my husband's company after we finalize, which I would like to sink straight into a savings account to start saving for #2!

kinggatr

My husband and I have taken out a low interest loan through American Christian Credit Union. They are a life-saver!! We are hoping to finalize before the end of the year to take advantage of the adoption refund and repay a large portion of the loan back. In addition, we are saving, saving, saving...

We are also planning to have a yard sale soon and that will be added to our kiddy.