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Just curious...we are with an agency that we are paying as we go kinda thing...we are in the waiting stage right now...those of you that started the process; did you already have ALL the money ready BEFORE you started your adoption journey?? We have been scrapping it together as we go, we have paid the bulk but I worry because if we have to go out of state we will have to fly there, I think about last minute airfare and hotel costs! (a little late now I know), birth mother expenses etc. I pray that God will take care of us, but wonder if we're not giving Him too much. I would hate to turn down a situation becuse we didn't have the money...yet we have come too far to stop.....
Thanks for listening..............
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I'm almost embarrassed to say that we have a wonderful family member bank rolling our entire adoption. With our first we went through the foster care system and so there was no cost. About 6 weeks ago this family member asked if we would be interested in another adoption and if we were they would like to pay for it. Wow! So we are just finishing up our home study and profile. We should be officially "waiting" in another week or so. :-)
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Nope, we didn't have it paid off, and in fact it took us a couple of years to pay of the consolidated loan we took out to finance the adoption. But, it was obviously worth it cause we did it again last year! We have about $4,000 to pay off still, but I am not worried, I have my baby home in my arms and that is all that matters. I figured an adoption costs about as much as a car and you finance that, so why not this too? We also did fundraising, got a grant and saved some of the fees...
We saved enough ahead to pay for the homestudy, creation of profile books, etc.Then we crossed our fingers and jumped in. Our agency had a set fee that wsa paid at intervals in the adoption process: Homestudy, Matched, Placement, etc. While we were waiting our dog had a litter of puppies and we saved the money from that and a previous litter. It was a good thing we did, since matching and placement happened for us within 24 hours.Because it was so fast, we did have to take out a small loan, but we'll have that paid off with this year's tax return. After DD was born we decided our dear golden retrievers had done enough for the cause and there won't be any puppies to fund adoption #2.
We made a plan to have all the money required for the adoption early in the process. Though we didn't have the entire amount when we started our homestudy, during the wait for a match, we accumulated the remaining amount. Sure, we had the fallback plan of using credit cards if a match happened quickly, but that was not an appealing option. If at all possible, I would opt to collect the majority of what you will need, if not for your own peace of mind, at the least. Stressing about debt while caring for a new baby can't be fun at all. JMO.
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We had just finished the paper chase for our first int'l adoption when a domestic private adoption fell into our lap. Instead of a 12 month lead time to save, we had 2 months! Then we also adopted our foster daughter that same year! Finances were crazy, I had to do SOMETHING. So I reserved my padded room and on top of all of it, I started a home based biz in addition to my FT job. We had everything (debts AND both adoptions) paid off in 6 months!
Now, 2 years later we are in the paperchase for our 3rd (going international this time). THIS time however, it is NOT stressing me out. I still only do the biz parttime, but have plenty of residual income coming in that the adoption is already fully financed.
Find what works for you. For some it is loans, others credit cards, for many of us we dig deep and pull off another job. If you want to know more about what I did, email me.
No matter what it is NOT easy, but well worth it. Just find what works for you.
HTH
My husband and I are at a crossroad regarding our financial preparedness for a possible adoption situation that has come up. We turned in our profile book with the assumption that things would take time. We got a call 2 DAYS later. He feels anytime from June on would be financially reasonable, but says it would be (based on his "spreadsheet) not totally resposible to accept a situation before then. This baby boy is due one week from today and the bf has not signed papers yet but seems to be coming around now. If this works out, I have to show my husband that creative financing can make it possible. I cannot imagine turning this opportunity away after all we've been through. If it works out I can't see myself able to walk away - HELP!
Well we are trying to start doing foster care but found out about a baby coming in June that we would like to try to adopt that would be going through foste care. With our 9 month old she just kind of happened and we have a private attorney that only does adoptions where you find your own birthmom, or she also does intl. and allowed us to make payments. Our daughter is now "paid off". We are trying to save 25% of our income but I ended up switching jobs and had to take a paycut (my happiness is worth it though) I also took a cut in hours so I went back to my part time job. I'm trying to find something to do from home too. Possibly discovery toys or something like that. I could sell the stuff on Ebay I think.
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We paid a little when we sent in the app fee, then a little more when we had the homestudy. So far we've paid those fees out of savings. I have a 0% interest loan for the rest of the finances. We are paying as much as possible for the next year and will pay it off with our adoption tax credit.
Its good to hear what other people have done or are doing to fund their adoptions. While I am currently trying to do a state adoption I have been doing some thoughts on how to fund a private adoption if the need arises. I am trying to avoid taking out a home equity loan or hitting credit cards. Right now I am spending time saving and selling handknit baby things on Etsy.
If the state adoption comes through I can use saved money for baby start up costs and put the rest in a college fund :eyebrows: and I can take all of my knit stuff off of etsy and use it for myself!
Here's hoping for a quick end to my etsy store!
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