Cost of searching??

Every searcher is a bit different. Our search ran about $1,500. The biggest factor that seems to impact cost is geographic location. The more remote the search has to go, there may be an increase in cost because of time and travel costs. A reputable searcher will be very up front about the cost, additional fees, and payment schedule. Ours was a flat fee (which included a slight extra charge because of the location) and there were no hidden or questionable costs. Like with adoption, transparency is paramount.

I agree that it does depend a lot on the location. Our searcher did not have to travel a long distance, so the cost was much less. And the location was easy to get to. The cost was explained in detail up front. Are you a member of Guatemala Birth Families yahoo group? You can get info on searchers and get more information about cost.

Our searcher asked for our documents, determined where she needed to go then let us know that the fee would be $850. She explained everything to us and let us know that she does offer a percentage of the fee to the family when she finds them. She also told us that she tries to collect things such a clothes and other supplies that families might need so that she can pass them out when she travels to search.

Correction: Our cost was $1200. By the way, that included the delivery of food supplies when the visit was made --- and I mean significant supplies: 25 pounds black beans 25 pounds sugar 25 pounds rice 25 pounds corn laundrysoap 1 gallon cooking oil 10 pounds pasta 5 pounds cereal 10 pounds salt coffee This is definitely something that was important to us in choosing a searcher -- we didn't want it to only be about us and what we wanted with establishing (actually, in our case re-establishing) contact. Even if our son's mother had chosen to have no more contact, we wanted to be able to offer her something that would show we cared about her well being.

Thanks for the info. I do belong to the Yahoo group and will look into it more. God Bless, Anne

Our search was $850.00, and 10% of the fee was used to buy food/supplies for the birth family. Fees vary by location. We will be keeping in touch and working through our searcher to help the family. Still figuring out the best way how. Best wishes!