praying ...

I would start with some reading to figure out what kind of child would best suit your family and what is the best process for bringing that child home. Here are some good titles to start you off: Adopting After Infertilty Launching Your Baby's Adoption The Idiot's Guide to Adoption Adopting in America (in less than a year) The Open Adoption Experience Children of Open Adoption The cost of adoption can be $0 to $45k I even heard abouttwo Attorneys in Louisiana who were charging upwards of $100K but those high prices are rare. Most domestic adoptions fall into the $10k-$15k range with some agencies charging $20K-$25k as a flat fee with no risk. International adoptions can cost as little as $8-$10k from countries like Ethiopia or Haiti or as much as $30k or more from Russia or Guatemala depending on the professionals you use. So much depends on what you want and the varibles of each sitatuion. I saw you post on adoptions from Panama and if you go to the state department web site there is a list of countries thsat have a proceedure for out of country adpoptions. I don't think I remember seeing Panama there but they might have a special process for Panamanians. I do know that Columbia is a very inexpensive country to adopt from. We looked at doing a Columbian adoption a few years ago because it was so straight forward and inexpensive but in the end we opted for domestic adoption which ended up being much less paperwork and less expensive (no travel). Best of all we have a great reltionship with the birth family. The birth dad btw is Panamanian (small world) lisa