Newbie Question ~ Fees

ked1068 · July 2009

I will preface this by saying that Dh and I are just in the VERY beginning stages of starting the adoption process. I have a few books from the library to read over the summer, but other than that, I am not much in-the-know of the process. I'm sorry if this is a question that is asked often.

Would someone be able to, with a ballpark figure, tell me how the fee's for adoptions work? Is the cost due at one time or spread over time? How much does a typical homestudy cost, signing with an agency, etc.

****if there is a post below about this, I'll take a look...I just haven't seen one****

Thank you for your input!

CaseyLea · July 2009

It all depends on the agency and the type of adoption you are looking into. Keep in mind there are grants and low or no interest loans available.

We are doing domestic infant; we paid a $250 application fee and $1500 for the homestudy that was due before our caseworker signed off on it to approve us. Placement fees are $15K... I think it's half due at placement and the rest is required for finalization (which is within about 6 months). From what I've seen, those numbers are on the low end.

ked1068 · July 2009

Thanks for putting this out there.

I should add that we are looking into domestic adoption.

silliestbunny · July 2009

I found that home study fees all came in around 2K.

Total adoption fees quoted to us ranged from 16K (plus a three year wait!) to 40K. Most fell closer to $30K.

Hope this helps...

This is a friendly and helpful group here. Stick around!

ColoRxGirl · July 2009

Our fees (agency + attorney) will run a total of around $23K. Birthmother support may be another few thousand - or nothing at all.

Our fees have been spaced out some. $2500 retainer for the attorney, and, to date, about $8K to the agency over about 6-7 months.

Jessie*J · July 2009

Our application fee was $200 and our home study was $1500. Aside from the home study we had to pay for fingerprinting (I believe most ppl do) and it cost us $104.

Our agency has a sliding scale where they base your adoption on income (this is not for some ppl but was good for us). Our total agency costs (with our HS) will be $6000. And we will have another $1000 for a lawyer fee after we place. My DH's work pays back $3000 after you finalize which works out awesome with our low fees Smile

Our agency has us pay in 1/3's. You pay your first $1500 for the HS, then once they have a spot for you on the viewing list you pay the next 1/3 (in our case it's another $1500) and the remaining balance will be due after you get placement. (in our case it will be $3000).

Since it takes 6 months to finalize in the state of MO, our agency tells you that you have 6 months to pay the remaining cost. (The lawyer fee is just our extra cost we pay after we place too).

GL

jacksjerseygirl · July 2009

Every agency is different. I know some require you to pay up front, some require you to put it all in an escrow up front, and some don't.

Our agency requires their application fee and activation fee (7k/10k) which you are ready to go 'active' with them up front (although they waived both of these fees for us). Our agency also handles all aspects of the adoption so we never had to hire another party to complete any part of our adoption

Once you agree to a match or placement (in the event the child is already born) then you have 48 hours to wire the cost for that match (which includes, for our agency, all expected legal, medical, agency, counseling, etc fees).

The agency then takes care of paying the appropriate people (attorney, SW, etc). After finalization, any money that was not used (as with our agency they WILL NOT go over the stated match amount and sometimes that amount could end up being less if less fees are required for attorneys or medical) then you are remembursed.

Our home study fees were in the 1200 range but now we have post placement home study fees. Each post placement visit has a fee as well a SW travel costs. For us I think it is about 200 each visit and we have four of them until finalization.

I think the post placement fees are important for ppl to understand. There is this idea that after placement those kinds of fees are done with but far from it. I know a couple in PA that had a BF contestion which meant that they had to have extra post placement visits - as in weekly and it was like 150 for each visit for them with their SW and agency. That gets steep if you have to do it over several months!!!

Dr.Loretta · July 2009

Fees are generally due over time as you go through the process. At least in our experience.

Application fees vary, I think ours was $150. The homestudy was around $1500. We have a profile fee, and the match fee is $20K, due at time of match. I can't remember post-placement fees, but it's all spelled out. All told the fees for our agency are around $34K.

There really is a wide range. We looked at a "cheaper" agency that would have totaled around $17K for all fees. However, we were less comfortable with them because it was a one-woman who who contracted out homestudies and lawyer duties, and she didn't seem to have as much in the way of counseling for anyone. A lot of people on this board will stress the importance of availabile counseling for everyone involved, especially the birthmom. Our agency provides a lot of it, and stresses it every time we talk to them.

A good agency will be very transparent with their fees. We were able to download all of our fee information from our agency's website.

LadyRed7 · July 2009

like pp said, every agency is different, has different fee schedules, etc.

For us and our agency, we were told a basic range is $19-30K. We were told a good estimate would be @ $24k. The general range depends on the complexity of the case, attorney fees and BM expenses.

Our home study is $1600.

Also, you will notice in your research that some agencies are on sliding scales while some are flat fee.

Good luck! Ask any questions you need to, everyone is very helpful.

crystalpopcorn · July 2009

As everyone else has said, it varies by agency and program. We were originally planning to use a local agency. Agency fees, including homestudy, legal, post placement, etc. would have been around 18k. However, our wait time for match was estimated to be more than two years because we have a child already. We decided that we didn't want to wait two years for a match that might or might not work out.

We have decided to go with a national agency that works in several states. Going this route, we estimate our total expenses to be around 30-35k. This includes the homestudy, travel to the other state, agency fees, legal fees, advertising, birthmother expenses, profile creation, post placement, etc. I lost a lot of sleep last night thinking about this, but this agency just 'feels right' to us, so we will figure out how to make it work financially.

I am actually planning to submit our application when I am finished with his post. Excuse me while I go vomit now.... Ick! lol

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