Start to finish, how long?

We started our HS process in July 2009, approved in November 2009, in the waiting pool in December 2009. Placed February 2010. We paid $17,000 for everything, fees, HS, etc. My DH took a class and learned how to do the finalization paperwork, so that saved a couple of grand right there. We also will get most of that back from the tax credit. If we waited until we had $30,000 in the bank, we would still be waiting. Our agency is not-for-profit, and we got placed so quickly because we were so open. Race didn't matter, drugs (NOT heavy drinking though), mental disorders (except schizophrenia), HIV (can be reversed in infants), and Hep A, B, & C. Our agency was stunned at how fast we got placed, typical wait is one to three years. But since everyone was waiting for that "perfect", chemical-free baby, we side-stepped that line. :D BTW, DD is a healthy, thriving, achieving almost-11 months old. We want to do a second another adoption, but can't afford another $17,000 right now (Thanks to the $25,000 spent on IVF). DH is going on 44 and I am going to be 40 in June. Pressure is ON...lol. We are considering foster-to-adopt (me!), or just being a one child family (DH).

11 months from signing with the agency to bringing DD home. Total cost was approximately $27,000. We had about half the money before we started for the homestudy and intial agency fees. We did take out a home equity loan which we ended up using for the placement fee and we put the travel expenses (under $2000) on our credit card. My philosophy was how do we come up with $30k in 6 months if we have to? We had enough available on our credit cards, which is not an ideal situation but with the tax credit being fully refundable, I wouldn't hesitate to use them if we did it again. I was 38 and DH was 44 at the time so we wanted a child as soon as possible and worry about any debt later. I DID know how we would pay off that debt before signing on with the agency. I think that's key in planning. Our SW told us to spread the expenses over a 2 year period and the agency said 3 months so we ran the numbers for each and made sure we were comfortable with the outcome either way. There's no way I could have turned down a child just to avoid the debt so we didn't sign with the agency until we had a plan.

We started the home study in September and are matched with emom due April, so it should be 7 months. The total cost is going to be about $27000. We had it up front because I didn't want something to come up and us not be ready. (I used financial aid $$$-shh)

We went a different route. We didn't use an agency, instead we told EVERONE we knew we wanted to adopt (obgyn, pastors, physicians, teachers, etc) and we met our birthparents thru the director at one of my mom's daycares. My time line is NOT NORMAL, I understand, but it does happen. We met the BP 4 weeks before our little man was born, we brought him home from the hospital. We went thru DHR for foster parent classes. They did background, fingerprints, physicals, homestudy etc for free (we are now foster parents with no desire to foster, adoption only). All we paid was attorney costs, bp expenses and we spent almost $8,000. I'm glad we did it this way, but there are more risks of the BP backing out (no counseling). Good luck! It is an emotional journey, but worth it all. BTW, I am 39 and my hubby is 46. We have already started telling the same people to be on the lookout for #2. We shall see.

From the time we were in the waiting family book to placement was 9 months. Cost was around 17500 and we had part of the cost saved and the rest we borrowed from my 401k and then paid it back once we received the adoption credit money from our tax return

Ours was a bit similar to AlabamaMommy's. It was very fast. We did not use an agency. It was partly because of money and partly because I didn't want to feel like I wasn't in control of what was going on (well, to the extent that one can be). Our time line was a bit like this... Sept 2009 - Submitted application for homestudy (this was the only thing we used an agency for) November 2009 - Homestudy Visit. Nov 2009 - January 2010 - Network and market as much as possible. Pass along cards handed to everyone I encounter. Put up our adoption website and blog, work hard to get Google to notice them. Send letters to every friend/family member to let them know about our journey and ask them to keep their ears open. February 2010 - Against social worker's advice, call court to figure out where our certification is. Turns out it was the first one the judge's assistant had ever done and she had "sat it aside to figure out". So glad I made that call. Certification complete two days later. Meet with a number of local attorneys, give them copies of our profile. March 3, 2010 - Get a call from a local woman who is married, has four children, and is pregnant with a fifth. Knows they are spread to thin and are looking to place their daughter, who's due in April, for adoption. She found us through our website. March 10, 2010 - Meet M & L for dinner. Fall in love with both of them. Hope they pick us, but just want them to find the right solution for their family. March 17, 2010 - Meet M & L again (along with their kids and our daughter) for a playdate at a bounce house place for the kids. They ask us to adopt their daughter. Build a relationship with M&L. Get to know them. Take L to her doctor's appointments. Wonder if this is all real. April 7, 2010 - Grace was born. Spend three days in the hospital with her and L. Sept 2010 - Finalize adoption. All in all ours was about $15k. That was mainly attorney's fees. Our birth parents did not want any money, and our attorney basically had to beg them to at least take a little bit. It kind of floors me how much it added up to given how very easy it was. Ours was a combo of savings, 401k loans and a bit on credit cards. I'm sooo ready to do this year's taxes!!!! I am a HUGE believer in promoting and networking your own adoption, even if you use an agency. Ours was 100% due to our website. We also had a few leads from our pass along cards. I try now to promote other hopeful adoptive couples on website, just to try and pay it forward. We were unbelievably blessed with the gift of an amazing adoption situation, and any way I can pay that gift back to the adoption community, I try to.

Yeah I was in the same boat as sheababy - but everything worked out better than I could have imagined (used home equity loan $$$) and now am happier than I could have imagined with DD (8 months old next week!) I actually wrote an article about it that was featured on [url]http://www.homeequityloan.net[/url] because they were so touched at what a difference they had been able to make in our lives. So happy and love reading everyone else's stories as well! :love:

We are using a coordinator and doing private placement. Cost is higher but placement was fairly quick at 4 months. We are 8 weeks away from due date and everything seems to be going well. I used funds from retirement account as I'm in my mid 40's and didn't feel like I had the time to wait or save.

1. How long did your domestic adoption take from start to finish? - 19 months 2. Did you have all the money saved up in advance, or were you able to come up with it along the way? We had it saved (?) 3. If you're comfortable sharing, how much did your adoption cost? $120.00 Cdn. Dollars

Ours took 13 months from start of homestudy to our son's birth. We were able to take out money from our home equity so saving was not as big of a deal then. Cost was around $30k :( We are going for #2 and our plan is to have about 1/2 saved when we go active with the agency. If we get lucky and have a really quick placement then we have asked some family members if we can borrow some money. Otherwise we should have the rest saved within about 9 months of going active.

We signed with a consulting agency in August 2010 who completed our home study. They connected us with an adoption agency out of state with whom we went active December 2010. We brought our son home February 2011-so 6 months total.We saved some, my husband's employer pays $5000 toward an adoption, and we used a home equity line for the rest until we can claim the tax credit.Total home study, agency, and legal fees were around $25,000. However I tracked every penny, and we spent several hundred more on background checks, copies, lab tests, profiles, fed ex and postage...we paid cash along the way for all of these things, and it adds up fast! Good luck!

Best of luck! 1. How long did your domestic adoption take from start to finish? 22 months (we had 4 mis-matches and then we finally got our daughter when we switched agencies. she was 3 weeks start to finish).2. Did you have all the money saved up in advance, or were you able to come up with it along the way? We did have the majority saved, but then we got scammed by a facilitator for $6,000. We saved, prayed and prayed and miraculously we got a bonus from my husband's job just in time to pay finalization fees.3. If you're comfortable sharing, how much did your adoption cost $29,000 (plus $6,000 we lost).

When you discuss the cost for domestic adoption.... are you all discussing private domestic, or are you also covering government public domestic adoption? What is the difference in the cost? Are you paying the prices you pay when you use public domestic? Just curious. When I answered this query it was with my own experience in mind and I did a public domestic adoption - costs are really nothing and the wait depends on what kind of matches are available for the criteria we specified.

I for some reason can’t make a thread But I’m really curious if you need an adoption agency for international adoption?I’m from Canada looking to adopt infant from the usBut the agency is telling me it costs 70 thousand dollars often

Thanks for the info James , it really had me get an idea of the whole situation, plus the necessity to beware of scammer .Thanks again:grinning: