Adoption
Adoption cost
I'm sure this is asked all the time but can someone give me a broad range for how much adoption costs? I know it probably depends on the company you use and such but just something would be great. I want to find out if it's an option for me.
We just had our 5th loss and completing our final try in June. As of July we will be officially done and ready to start mourning our loss of a biological child and moving on to others means. We are unable to afford IVF with CGH since its about 13,000 and wanted to see if it's any less expensive.
Also is it all a lump sum or is it sort of pay as you go? Thank you so much!
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Re: Adoption cost
I'm sorry for your losses. That must be so tough.
Cost varies depending on what type of adoption you do. I would encourage you to check out the FAQs at the top of the board to get an overview of the different types/paths and see if something speaks to you. It should also give you resources for more specifics. In a nutshell, you have 3 basic options:
1. Adopt through foster care. The cost is negligible, and you may also get a stipend before you finalize. The "cons" are that you may be looking more at older children, and the ultimate purpose of foster is reunification with bio family if possible.
2. Adopt through domestic infant adoption. Costs can very quite widely, because there are different ways to do it. You can do a lot of it on your own (requiring less $ but more legwork), through a facilitator or consultant (if your state allows it), through an adoption attorney, or with a full-service agency. Even agencies have wide ranges in fees. Some also charge on a sliding scale based on income.
3. Adopt internationally. Costs can be fairly significant, especially if you plan to travel to the child's home country for a period of time. But again, they can vary.
We did domestic infant adoption, and it was a little of both as far as fee timing. We paid as we went for things like our application and homestudy. But the bulk of the fees were in the actual match, since that $ goes to a variety of things (paying the SWs to do the legwork and paperwork, background advertising and operating costs, etc.). We were told that we had to have that available at a certain time in case we were matched quickly.
You'll likely get quotes here from the low $10K to mid $40K. We looked at one agency that would have been in the $15-20K range. We went with a larger, established agency (read: more overhead) that ended up costing us $34K. A reputable agency should have the utmost transparency in fees. Our agency's website spelled it out on one of their tabs so there were no surprises.
We are doing domestic infant with a full service agency. It does cost more but unless you know of a birthmom or think you can find one on your own I recommend it. It makes it so much easier. Ours will cost 23k total. Some of it was pay as you go but a big chunk of it, 18k is due at placement. That part is for program fees, birthparent expenses medical and counseling and legal expenses.
There are lots of grants available for international adoptions, some for domestic too but not as many.
Started TTC January 2007 4 failed IUIs, 2 failed IVFs
2012 - Adopted Child #1
2014- Adopted Child #2
2015 - Fostering Child #3
Check out my infertility turned adoption blog: Discovering Joy In The Storm
We checked with several agencies. Catholic Charities for examples does a sliding scale for placement fees--that for us was about $16K not including homestudy, application, etc.
We talked with our SW about National Adoption Law Council and they'd run about $38-42K.
Our agency is VERY VERY small and doesn't focus on adoption (their main focus is foster) and when everything is said and done (application, legal fees etc) we're estimated around $7-9K
We used a full service agency. Our total was $34K. We had to pay $2K at the beginning and the rest was monthly until the birth of our ds where we had to pay the remainder. It really was not that bad. We had a plan through out where we could get the balance in a pinch if need be.