Realistic Cost Question

I would think it depends whether you are adopting domestically or internationally and what country you are adopting from if it is an international adoption. Good luck!

Are you asking if the cost is realistic or if it's reasonable? Is it realistic? That's about what we expect to spend on our China adoption. If we picked a different country, the costs could be more or less. If were were doing domestic, the cost structure would be totatlly different. Is it reasonable? That's a more personal questios. China is one of the more inexpensive international options. You'll have to decide what is reasonable to you.

We have paid (almost) all of the expenses for our domestic adoption and it will be about $14k total. If you received it from the agency, it may not cover everything. Is this a domestic? Does that include home study? Post palcement visits? Legal fees? Maybe you could give us a little more info and we could give better advice!!

Short answer - yes. There are more expensivea nd less expensive ways to go.For a private, domestic, newborn adoption through an agency, we were budgeting for around $20K. Our total costs were just under $12K. Just be sure that you are very clear on what fees or expenses (if any) are possible, above and beyond that $17K.....

That's about the middle of the range I've seen. About the cheapest I've seen is $9,000, and the most expensive about $40,000. So obviously there is a HUGE variance. It all depends on your desires -- international or domestic, age of child, race of child, if you're willing to accept any medical needs or things in their genetic history that might manifest themselves later, drug or alcohol use, and a TON of other things. Also, you have to be able to be somewhat flexible -- it's actually going to wind up more of a range than an actual cost, because of smaller, incidental things. Our agency's fee, for example, is $13,000. That covers a lot of stuff, but it doesn't cover the homestudy, the mileage to our homestudy agency, doctors, etc., the 10 copies of our profile book we've needed so far, long-distance phone calls, postage, copies, travel to get the baby, finalization of the adoption, etc. etc. We've already spent about $3000 on that stuff, and estimate we'll spend at least $2000 more, making our final total more like $18,000.

I have been looking for a few months now on and off at different agencies, after reading this I feel like the agencies I am looking at are pricey ~25,000-30,000, for domestic infant adoption. Am I just not looking at the right places...

Well, after looking I still settled for a $25.000ish agency for domestic adoption. Why? Because price isn't everything. You want to look at what you are comfortable with. Do you want the fees to roll over the next situation? Then it will probably be more expensive to cover up their expenses in case of failed placement. Do you want early or late matches? For late matches, the agency will have to help with money until the match. Do you want the birthparents to have councelling? Councelling is pricey. Do you want the agency to follow the birthparents closely, for example regarding health testing? That will cost money, too. Do you want to pay thousands in living expenses? An agency might be more able to decide what is reasonable and what isn't. Do you want to advertise yourself or let the agency handle it? For example, going through attorneys is usually cheaper, but you sometimes have to advertise, and the fees will still be due if the birthmother decides to parent. So, risk is another factor to consider. There's no right answer, just what applies to what you're looking for.