On a tight adoption budget

Have you thought about adopting a child from foster care. It doesn't cost anything. Since you are open to any race you should be able to get a child that is in your age range. You can adopt only. Meaning you would only accept a child who was free for adoption.(that is what we did) We were matched with our son within a few days of getting our homestudy approved. He was almost 4 when he was placed with us. He is a very happy, healthy, well adjusted little boy.We hope to adopt again in the fall. We are going to ask for a child 0-3yrs any race. ( our son is bi-racial)

Remind your self there is an over $10,000 adoption credit. This helps a lot. You can do adoption with an agency for the price range you have available. Check with agencys that you pay for the services you need, rather than a one price agency. Advertising is where we found the costs really added up (we did internet, newspaper, and our profile). You can keep your cost down in these areas by doing some of the work yourself.

I agree that you should be able to find a baby for the budget you've mentioned. I am taking the liberty of sending you my own suggestion list of agencies/attorneys. There are others I've not mentioned as well and I would strongly suggest you Google 'adoption agencies in (list state)'...to find a list. While it may take some extra homework, finding situations with this budget IS do-able! My best to you..... Sincerely, Linny

Be sure that any information regarding any agencies is sent via private messages. Good luck on your journey to adoption.

Ohhh, don't worry, Michelle. I've been pm-ing this list for a long time. :) Sincerely, Linny

Linny you are awesome its just a reminder for others. Thanks!

To Arkansasparent, Linny and all you lovely people: Thankyou for your help!! Ill work my way through your suggestions :coffee: and I am confident now weԴll find a way! Like the Aussies say: "No worries" :-) Marie and to dragonfly: I know- agency information only by PM please! :-)

Hi Linny, I am new to this forum and I would greatly appreciate your information as well. Could I trouble you to send me your list? Thanks so much!

Looking for a sliding scale adoption agency? I live in Oklahoma and have been a foster mom for two yrs. Done with DHS,looking for private.But worried we won't have enough money. I have filled out an application but the place is 18 hrs away. I seen a sliding scale agency once for bi-racial but now I can't find. Homestudy just needs updated. Anyone please help! Thanks momunit Jo

405momunit, Have you tried to Google just that? "Oklahoma adoption agencies that charge on a sliding scale"? I'm unsure of any in your area, but I know that's the way I'd start. I fully understand your being 'done' with waiting on any foster/adopt agency to adopt an infant........but if you continue to have problems in finding one, please PM me. I don't live in OK, but might be able to go through my notes of any OK agencies. Good luck! Sincerely, Linny

Hi- we too are trying to find an agency that may go off a sliding pay scale. Both of our children are biracial. Our son was through Dept of Human Services and our daughter was from a lawyer who contacted us. She no longer does adoptions and Dept of Human Services do not like to place outside of counties. Our children are now 6 and 5. We are open to adopting age 0-2. Any help would be wonderful.

Hi, Linny! I'm kind of new to this forum, and my husband and I are trying to find a affordable agency. Could you send me your list, too, please? Thanks! ~Judi

I have been out of the loop for a while, since my youngest child is 15, but I don't see why you couldn't do what we did, with her. I'd had a home study done, privately. Then, I wrote a letter, telling about our family and that we were looking for a black or biracial baby. I found out that some agencies would keep information about a family, kind of on the back burner, and look at them if they ended up with a child that they had a hard time placing. If they called a family, and the family was interested, they would discuss fees, then, but wouldn't require them to pay anything before that. Often, if a family couldn't pay very much, they would work with them on it. In 1995, shortly after our daughter was born, the agency who had placed her, which was in Florida, called me, here in Utah. They had a baby they were frantically trying to find a home for. The black baby boy had been born more than three months prematurely, who was about to be discharged from the hospital. He was doing well, but his doctors couldn't say whether he would have any long-term effects of the prematurity and the result of that was that they couldn't find a family who was willing to risk having a child that needed some extra help. They only had a few days to find him a home before he would have been taken over by the state and put in foster care. The social worker who called me said that, if he went to state foster care, she didn't think there was much chance he would ever get a permanent family. Fortunately, I found someone here who was interested. They didn't have much money, so the agency, which usually charged $10,000, at that time, charged them only $1,500. A few days later, they were back home with their beautiful baby boy! They don't live in the same town and I haven't seen them in several years, but I know that he grew into a strong, healthy beautiful boy. If you get a letter and some pictures, send it around to agencies, in your own state, and some others, that might work. With our daughter, it wasn't the actual agency that placed her that I wrote to, but one that I wrote to, in Louisiana, still had my letter on their desk when they got a fax from the agency in Florida. Also, tell everyone you know that you are looking. The tip that got our fifth child home to us came from a friend I had told we were looking. Its good if you can all ready have a home study completed so that, if you learn about a child who is all ready born, you will be able to go pick him/her up without delay. Our least expensive adoption was through the state of Nevada. Our oldest daughter was born with a serious birth defect and had multiple health issues, so she was special needs. Our only charge was for a lawyer to help us finalize. That was $400. Of course, it was 20 years ago, so the going rate for lawyers is more. When you go through the state, things can be even less predictable. You are more likely to get a child who is older and/or has some kind of health problems. Those are the children who tend to come without a large adoption fee, too. Sometimes, just race makes the expenses less, but not always. In our case, our black son and our black/Asian daughter were our most costly adoptions of our six kids, several times over. So, I think, if you are open to lots of possibilities, it is more likely that you will find your child without having to go bankrupt to pay for the adoption fees. Not that you shouldn't just find a good agency and wait for things to happen with them, but just some other things to consider. Like with lots of other things, it is best to look at lots of possibilities, first, and then weigh your options. Good luck!