Adoption Financing

I noticed you are in Utah. A few years ago the legislature passed a bill that requires MOST of the insurance companies (that also have maternity benefits) to have an adoption indemnity benefit. If the child is placed with you within 90 days of birth, you are elegible for some money. I know that 2 yrs ago, the amount was $3,155 but I think it has gone up since then. Depending on your income, this could cover a large portion of your adoption fee. The only thing is that if your adoption is not finalized within 1 yr of the childs birth, they will want you to pay the $$ back to them. I would call your insurance company and find out if they offer this. Cherie

Thanks Cherie ~ The benefit is up to 4000.00 now but after they take out our deductible and co-insurance, we will only get back 2800.00. This is great but we still have to come up with the money up front because this money from the insurance is not paid to us until a couple months AFTER the baby is placed with us. Thanks for the response though!!

Cherie ~ Where in Utah are you? You can PM me, I am just curious to find out where all us Utah people are!!

Some people have done big fundraising things like hold a huge yard/bake sale to which their family and friends have donated. All the proceeds get put in the adoption fund. I know that when they put a sign by the cash box stating what the money is for, people were less likely to haggle over prices and some even donated extra. This is the time of year to do a yard sale! A friend of mine knew that she would stay at home after they got a baby so as soon as they started the adoption process, they started living on her dh's income only. All of her paychecks went directly into the savings account, not to be touched. They ended up having not only enough to pay for the adoption but also a nice cushion to help get them through that first very expensive year with their baby. I tend to "nickel-and-dime" things. When I used coupons and rebates, I put the amount that I saved into the adoption fund. We cut down on the number of times we ate out and put that money into the fund. Any "extra" money that came in like tax refunds, babysitting jobs, birthday or Christmas gift money or whatever went into the fund. It really helped me feel like I was always doing something to work towards our baby. And dh was pleasantly surprised at the amount I had managed to save. Best of luck!

Thanks ~ I actually have thought very long and hard about a yard/bake sale and get people in my church and work and family and friends to donate things to go into the adoption fund. I think that this is a very good idea. I also would like to get a job on the side for a while cleaning businesses after work to earn extra money. Thank you so much for the ideas!! Any more would be great!!

When we adopted our son in 2002, they didn't take our deductable out before they gave us the $$$$. Maybe things have changed in the last couple of years. I am glad that dh's new employer has no deductible because his previous employer had a $500 deductible. What insurance company do you have? I hope you can find a way to make some $$$ towards your adoption. We are putting our house up for sale soon and I desperately need to dejunk but the thought of having a garage sale seems so overwhelming to me. It would be nice to make some $$$ but the thought of taking everything to the DI seems so much easier. Cherie

you may also enlist the help of friends and neighbors and have a multi-family yard sale. someone like Cherie may just be willing to donate all her items to you to sell. I know I would!!! PS...I'm a utahn also! I'm glad to see this board is getting some activity. It was SO dead at first!

Cherie ~ I have BXBS insurance. They are a good insurance but I still hate insurance companies all together. We will probably have a yard sale and I am letting everyone I know so they can donate items towards our adoption fund!! Feel free to donate some stuff if you would like, we are close enough!! aspenhall~ Where are you in Utah?? You can PM me the answer if you would like so it's not so public!! I am glad that this thread is getting some action too!!!

Hi all, We're here in Utah also, and we let everyone we know, know about our wanting to adopt. And, we got an anonymous check in the mail for $10,000! The rest was paid for by my dh's work compensation. It turned out great! Good luck Jen

Congrats on the check. How did you get the word out that you were going to be adopting and needed funds? I live in Idaho and thought if you did something it might work here.

We just always worked it in to any conversation - just saying we're planning on adopting, but it might take a few years to get the $$. At church, our Bishop and RS president just happened to also mention it in opening exercises. My mom also talks a lot, so all our relatives knew within a few days. We have a few ideas of who it came from, (both in our neighborhood and in the family) but noone will fess up. We were a little hesitant at first to let "the world" know our financial situation, but it is for a great cause, and it was well worth it. We just picked up our daughter from the Philippines three weeks ago, and we're are in deed grateful to whomever it was!! She is so fun, cute, and wonderful to have here with us! Good luck to all, and I've heard giant yard sales work well too - with people donating their stuff for you to sell too. Jen