Question on cost

Hi Joy! Yes, the costs of adoption can really scare people off. I would say MOST people who adopt don't have the money just lying aound, they have to be creative and usually make some sacrifices. I know in our case, we have had to accrue some debt. We have also cut WAY back on our daily living expenses, and wherever we can. Although some people don't agree with taking out loans for adopting, I don't think it's any worse that taking out a loan for a car, or a household improvement project. If you are both working, try living primarily on one income, and put the rest toward adoption. Simple things to save money include not eating out, getting rid of cable and extra phone services, cutting back on any extra spending, even clothing, for awhile. We drive older cars, have only broadcast-station cable, have a pay as you go cell phone, and just a basic phone line. We do splurge a little and have high-speed internet now, but we didn't for a lonnnggg time. We live pretty frugally. In 2001, we adopted a baby girl from Guatemala. At that time, we were both working, so we really cut back, and tried to put most of my salary toward the adoption. However, Guatamalan adoption was very expensive, so we still had to take out a loan, and we charged our travel. Two years after bringing M home, we adopted our son from Korea. I was a SAHM, so no extra cash. We really started living frugally, and took out another loan (the first was paid off), we set aside our tax refunds which were decent amounts due to the adoption tax credit for our first adoption, and we applied and were granted a subsidy by our agency. Three months ago, we brought home our newest baby girl, from Michigan. This time we had built up a decent amount of savings between adoptions, so that we only had to take a small 401k loan out, and we charged our travel expenses. Trust me when I say, we are not wealthy. My DH makes a good salary, but with only that, it's tight most months. If cutting back and loans are not going to do it, then you could consider fundraising. Many churches will help their members by donating the space for a spaghetti dinner, for example, or having a huge yard sale on the property, with other church members donating time and items to sell. If you are interested in this, there are yahoo groups that you can join (also one for frugal adoptive families), to get more ideas. I really believe that with hard work, determination, and help from God, you can certainly come up with the money. Blessings to you!

It depends on the children your family is willing to adopt. There are no cost adoptions through your state foster care system. This is not for everyone, though. There are not that many infants waiting for adoption through foster care unless you are willing to 'foster to adopt'. Fostering to adopt is not a guarantee of adoption, but if the child does end up needing adoptive parents the foster family is the first in line. So if you want to adopt an infant you should probably try a different adoption route.Most (like 99.5%) of the children adopted from foster care have special needs. These special needs are not always medical, but they are ALWAYS emotional. The children in foster care have been traumatized. Being removed from your birth family by the state is a trauma, and then it adds on from there. Most have been abused in some way. We have adopted 4 children from foster care. The oldest was 26 months, the youngest was 11 months when matched with our family. All were prenatally exposed to drugs and alcohol. One was neglected, and one was moved numerous times during the first year, and they both had emotional issues relating to that. Two had significant developmental delays for the first year, and one has gone on to have some continued delays. The cost of the four adoptions has been a few dr's appts over the years we had an active homestudy and some travel costs which we chose to not claim on the one time reimbursement from the state. The total for all of those would be less than $1000. We could have claimed those and been reimbursed, but we opted not to. We did claim travel expenses for most of the adoptions and were reimbursed when the adoption(s) were final. Special needs adoptions are not for everyone. I think it takes a family with a certain mindset. To me it's just normal so I don't see the impediments that others see. :D I do know that not everyone wants, or is able, to adopt a child with some unknowns, such as being able to live independently as an adult. I do believe that when God gives us a child that He will equip us to parent that child, regardless. We were so careful to be sure to make it clear during our adoption process that we could not adopt a child with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. So very careful.... :rolleyes: You'll notice that we now have 4 kids who were at least exposed, and a couple with probable FASD. We may not have initially been willing or prepared, but God knew better than we did what we needed, and what our kids needed. Scary thought, but comforting too. I've seen web sites that list resources for grants and low interest loans for adoptions. I had them bookmarked, too - on my computer that crashed! Sorry. You should be able to find them on a web search. Do you already have a good working budget in place? Something like those budget plans and guidelines Dave Ramsey or Crown Financial Ministries have. These are great for mapping out plans for large expenses (such as adopting :)) and can help you find areas in your budget that can be tweaked to free up money for savings. (As a one income family (Dh works, I'm a SAHM) let me say that a good budget is a MUST when the kids arrive! LOL We have 5 kids, 1 dog, 1 hamster, 4 cats and about 40 chickens, and poor Dh does all the breadwinning AND the budgeting. :evilgrin:)