Adoption - how did you pay for it???

Well, you did say you're interested in adopting domestically from the "waiting child lists". But you don't say what group (agency, state, etc) actually has custody of the children - there are definately some differences, including differences in cost. If the state has custody of the children - that is, the children are currently in foster care with the state, after having been removed from family that was not fit to care for the child - then you ought to be able to find a way to adopt the children for little to no cost. But if an agency has custody of the children - that is, the children are listed with an agency because the family of the child decided to place him/her for adoption, just like an infant adoption only the child is now older - then whatever the agency chooses to charge is going to be how much it costs to do that adoption. That could be anything, but usually several thousand dollars. The first one is considered a foster care adoption, or foster-adopt, or a similar word depending on where you live. You do not have to foster random children in order to adopt a child from foster care, but you usually have to become a foster parent so that the specific child you are matched with can be placed with you for the mandatory several-month waiting period before you can finalize the adoption. Agencies can be involved in this, but it is still very much the adoption of a child from foster care. To discuss the money aspect of adopting from foster care, if you go directly through the state the cost will be almost nothing. In some cases you will have to pay for a class or two that aren't offered directly by the state (like CPR, for instance), but the homestudy will be free, the mandatory classes will be free, the social worker visits will be free, and the termination of the bio parent rights will be free. The subsequent adoption by you is often (but not always) free. If the child is considered special needs he/she will qualify for additional funding to cover things - often up to $2,000 for "non recurring expenses" which are any expense that will only happen once during the adoption process - like fees associated with the finalization of the adoption. So after you get the non recurring expenses stuff reimbursed (you pay first, then get reimbursed), you will be out of pocket nothing or only a few cents. Again on costs of a foster care adoption - there are, in some states, private agencies that assist with the placement of foster children into adoptive homes. These agencies have most of their expenses paid by the state. But if they offer additional services (and sometimes even if they don't) they are permitted to charge their adoptive parents additional money. For instance, my foster child adoption agency charges $200 for the mandatory classes. They got tired of giving the classes to people who just wanted to see what they were like, and wanted to limit it to people who were serious. That $200 is reimbursable through the nonrecurring expenses thing I mentioned in the last paragraph. But I've seen agencies charge as much as $4,000 for the placement of a child from foster care, and think that's just rediculous! But hey, if they're getting people to give them that much money, I suppose more power to them. There are much cheaper alternatives, though! So if this sounds like the position you're in - foster care adoption through a private agency that is charging for its services - then maybe you should shop around more, as there are sure to be cheaper ways of accomplishing the same thing. Alternatively, an agency adoption of a child who was placed for adoption by their family in the same style that some parents choose to place their newborn can cost the same amount as the traditional adoption of a newborn. There are often discounts, since the child is older and because the agency did not have to advertise to draw in that family that is placing their child. So the cost could be significantly lower than the cost of a newborn adoption, but still be pretty significant. If this is the type of adoption you're describing - private adoption of a child placed for adoption by his/her parents - then you may be stuck with that cost. If you must have the cost brought lower, you may need to consider a different kind of adoption, like adoption from foster care. I hope that helped! By all means post back if we're not answering your question.

Our first adoption was international. We funded it by selling the hotrod car, saving instead of blowing money (we had been double-income, no kids family for a decade), some fundraisers from friends, and credit card to pay for travel.This time around, if a domestic situation would work out, it's a little bit of savings and part of DH's 401K. Figured it's better to pay it back to ourselves!

I don't know if you have signed on with 1 agency or not. But we signed on with a couple of referral agencies. They had a very low fee to send our profiles out to agencies or attorneys on situations that they didn't already have an adoptive family for. We also sent letters with business sized cards with our own 800 number on it to all our family and friends. This way if they knew someone facing an unexpected pregnancy who was looking to make an adoption plan they could share our info with that person. We set a budget and we were only shown to situations that fit within it. We were very open about our child. And we now have DD and it was right around our budget! It takes more work on your part but it's definately worth it in the end!!

OMG, this is so much information, lol! DianeS, I think you hit on what we are going for. We DO want to adopt from foster care, but we only want a child whose has already been TPRd. The agency I was referred to is charging a $300 application fee, 1500 homestudy, and 900 for 3 post-placement thingys. They also charge 400 if it is interstate. that comes to 3100. Apparently, from what I understand, they are the only agency in my area that are willing to do interstate adoption via fostercare children and my dh and I were wanting that as an option. So, maybe I will contact my states DCFS? I told the lady on the phone exactly what I wanted to do (adoption from the waiting child/foster list) and they said they could help but it would cost us. I am going to look more into this. In the meanwhile I just called my bank and told them what I was wanting to do and wanted to see if we would even be able to be approved for about $4000. Waiting to hear back. Anymore advice is much welcome! Thank you all so much!!!!

By the way, we are looking for an older-ish child...girl from 6-12 years old.

We just used some of our saving BUT I gotta tell you $3100 is cheap compared to what we paid. Our adoption was about 25-30K and it was local! Also cheaper than a CC child too. We did ended up getting 5K for the adoption from DH's job. I they have a adoption credit which I thought was cool.

Initially the cost seemed prohibitive to us as well. So we opted to try adopting through foster care and thus far that has not been successful in terms of our forever child. What happened with us is that our families all came together and gave us money. It has been an amazing experience. Then we applied for grants through the national adoption foundation. I haven't heard back from them yet, but who knows, we may get some funds. Go to their website and they'll give you some ideas. It's hard but try try try to not let cost get in the way. We also have a credit card that we'll be using if need be. Best of luck to you on this journey.

Depending on what county you are in, you might be able to get cert. with the county for FREE (Except $20.00 CPR), and request a child already TPR'd. You most likely won't get an infant because even relinquishment cases can be iffy, but they do have 10 month olds & up (typically older) who are currently with "foster only" homes that don't want to adopt them for whatever reason. These children will be offered to waiting "county certified homes" first. Then, only then, if there are no takers with the county, the child will go on a statewide waiting list. Call your county to check availablity. The bigger your county and the more diverse it is, the likelihood of them needing homes is greater. Also, no one mentioned it yet, if you do spend $3100, it is tax deductable (up to 11,000 ish). So, if you know for a fact you will adopt, you might be so bold as to increase your exceptions on your W2 form to get a bigger check each month and save.

You guys have been fantastic with this information! Thank you so much! I just called my local "Adoption through Foster Care" place and talked to a really fantastic person who gave me loads of information. I am going to talk to hubby about doing the foster to adoption. If we go through her agency everything is absolutely, 100% free. We would have to pay for our own physicals plus getting our dogs vaccinated and that is it. We can even find a child in another state and they pay for EVERYTHING including travel and hotel. We are going to a meeting on Thursday - I am excited. The only issue I will have is talking my hubby into the foster care part...he is terrified (as am I) that we will have a child for years and then they will take them back to their parents (which is very selfish of us, but we can't help it!).

Wow, i wish our adoption would only cost $4000!! We are doing domestic infant and our fees ARE really cheap in the world of infant adoption and they are approx. $16,000. It is very disheartening to feel like you cant adopt because of money but you can find the money if you really need it is what i found out. We had just gotten done with saving thousands for our IVF treatments and then when they failed we wanted to adopt and then had no money. So we got a loan for most of the $ from my MIL and then we have saved up another $6000 to cover the rest of the expenses and so i can take off of work for a few months after the baby comes. It took only 6 months or so. We are not rich by anymeans, but when you really need the money, you can find ways to cut back and save. If you have too, get a second job or work the weekends, stop eating out, there are alot of ways to save. Rach

Our adoption without homestudy or travel or ICPC was around $16k. I sold my Stratus for $5k, borrowed $4500 from my dad for the retainer, then my mom let me use one of her credit cards with like 3.9% interest; we are making her payments for her when she lets us. She "says" she has used the card for other things, she will pay this month etc....I think she thinks maybe it will be considered part of my inheritance. Sometimes she refuses my money to her outright. My dh has set aside some money in a mutual fund and adds to it every little whipstitch. We have several thousand in savings from the adoption tax credit and I add half my paychecks twice a month to it. This is all for paying off my mom in full and adoption #2. We put my dad on our cell phone plan and he does not expect us to pay him back what we borrowed. He is like my mom; he loves Joshie so much and was glad he could help. Blessings, Michelle

The amount of money you are talking is not really a lot, and is do able. Here are some of the things we did. First we prayed. And believe it or not a few weeks later we got a $12,000 check in the mail from the IRS. Our tax attorney had made a large error on our tax paperwork. This was our sign that we were really suspose to adopt. We were told that we would need around 25,000 for the type of adoption we were looking for. This IRS check took us down to 13, 000. Listed below are some of the things we did to raise the money. Yard Sale: Friends and family donated items and we got to keep the cash. We made about $1000 in 1 weekend. Church Donations: The pastor of our church told church members about our plans and the plans of 2 other couples in the church and then took up a love offering. Each couple received around $800 paid directly by the church to the adoption agency. No StarBucks for a year. This really added up. Each week I put my Star Bucks money in a jar along with other loose change. No Movies for a year. We normally went 2 to 3 times a month which would cost around $100. So at the start of each month $100 went into my Starbucks and loose change jar for a total of $1,200 a year. Cut Cable back to basic. Saving 25.00 a month, $300 for the year. Cut home phone service saving 39.00 a month $468 for the year. We kept our cell phones. NO CHRISTMAS- we spent nothing on Christmas for us or extended family members. We did buy for our son, but cut back what we normally do. Battle of the Bands: We organized local teen bands to have a contest. Donations were accepted at the door, the winning band got 1/2 of the donations, we got the rest. We netted $2500 after expenses (advertising, rental of High School gym) Side Jobs: What do you do for a living? My husband does web pages, so he put an ad on CraigsList, and in our local paper and picked up a few small jobs that he could do on weekends ($3000). I am a computer teacher, so I posted an ad that I would tutor people on any computer program. Many older people wanted to know how to use webcams and face book to keep in touch with thier kids and grandchildren. I earned around $2000. It was hard work, but well worth it. Our adoption ended up being around $25,000 and we were able to pay cash. Then when the Bmom tried to regain custody we had another $12000 in legal fees. Our attorney has set up a payment plan for the additional legal fees, we will have him paid off in just a few more months. When we first started saving I thought we would never reach 15,000 much less 25,000 but we did it and I have a feeling you can do it too. Best of luck to you

with the economy this might be hard but switching jobs worked for me. my company wil reimburse us 10k for our adoption- its part of their benefits packtaage. Companies that I believe still do this are Starbucks, Wendy's and Verizon Wireless. A web search could get a more complete look for you

Our adoption costs were 27,000 (plus 1500 for homestudy). We borrowed against our home equity. Fortunately, the market hadn't tanked yet!! We have no home equity left (or very little).

Our adoption will/is costing about $20,000. So I think $3100 sounds fantastic! But no matter how you go about it the fact is it stinks that we have to pay so much money for adoption. We tapped into our home equity line to pay for it and sold some stocks. Good Luck!