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My wife and I are just starting the process and looking over some of the post state that they look for savings. I put much of my extra money into a deffered comp account. Do they look at everthing or just assests that you can get access to right away. I really don't put much into my account at the local bank.
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Our agency did not require a specific amoutn of savings, but in general that you had a little "reserve". I did go to one agency that would not count 401K, retirement or deferred comps as "your money" , funny, it felt like "my" money when I earned it and they took it out of my paycheck!
I'm sure your agency could clarify the policy for you, but only one agency we even looked at mentioned it. I was suprised they didn't want to see more financial records to be honest.
Good Luck
Bumpkin
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It probably depends, as the last poster said, but our home study and international placing agency, as well as the Indian courts, counted everything, real estate, savings, life insurance, retirement, checking account, you name it. That was true of every placing agency we looked at, and I would assume our SW was doing things standard for KY and for India...
Don't know if this may help, but the non-profit agency I am going through advised that they would be looking for a "positive net worth" and stated that owning a home (as opposed to renting) would go a long way, mainly because of the equity I am guessing. They then said that they follow the INS (now BCIS) standard of 125% over poverty level. I asked if the home study requires a credit check, and they said no, to my surprise.
They are not looking for actual savings. Trust me, we used all of ours on the actual adoption. They want to see that you have a positive net worth and can AFFORD to add a child (and all of the expenses of that child) to your household income. We rented, had very little in savings and no retirement (we are still very young). But, we also have no debt and a good income. We had no problem qualifying for adoption and getting our son home.
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That's good to know, I'm single and have a good income, but also have some debt. I am still in the beginning stages of researching international adoption, so I'm trying to absorb what everyone has written. I have gotten some good fundraising ideas, and am now discouraged about the grants out there, as very few people have spoken of receiving them. Thanx! :)