Starting Over

It will be a pain without a doubt but I am assuming that all the information is there just needs to be put on different forms, copying and pasting? At least I would hope so. Just remember that every day is one day closer and that EVERY at some point or another gets exhausted by the process. Good luck!!!

Thank you. Yes, all the information is there its just transferring everything from international to domestic. It never ceases to amaze me all the paperwork involved. I understand that it is there to protect the child and us, but Lord knows it is beyond frustrating some days. Thanks again.

Hi shell29! We also just left the int'l adoption track after having waited over two years before shut-down. I feel exhausted after all the work we had already done and the extremely lengthy wait that gave zero back. The domestic track seems very confusing to us and it really is like starting all over again. And a newborn is also a totally different story. We get so little family leave off from work that we're wondering how to manage it all. A less costly domestic process would give us some money to use for that, but it seems to me that a ballpark figure of $40,000 should be expected for domestic adoption with an agency. Since we have already spent $15,000 on the int'l process without any return, it's getting harder to take chances with money. Anyway, I didn't mean for this message to be all about me (sorry, got side-tracked), but I wanted to let you know that you are definitely not alone out there. I think I have an idea of what you are going through and I understand your anxiety.

Lisa123, while I certainly am not going to dispute that some agency placements could cost $40K, I can assure you that ours did not!!! There are agencies that have flat fees, agencies that use sliding scales. It is time consuming yes to have to start researching the options and what not but I think you will find that there are more options when it comes to the domestic side, not just $40K. Best of luck to both of you ladies!

I agree that a more costly, rather than average, domestic adoption would be in the $40,000 range. Mine was significantly less than that. You may want to look at agencies that have all-inclusive fees (meaning that you do not pay expenses separately, but you pay the agency and they pay any expenses). Sometimes that is a bit more expensive (though I worked with one of those agencies and paid nowhere near $40k), but the advantage is that you do not lose what you have paid if the emom you are matched with decides to parent.

Yes, you are of course right that not all agencies charge 40K. One of our main priorities, however, is to not wait another two or three years, since we have already waited over two years. We are getting older and time is running short. I would LOVE an option where the cost is lower but the wait is still fairly short. However, I'm under the impression that it would be hard to find. We have also done A LOT (!!!) of paper work for our Russian adoption portfolios over the years, including three home studies (our local agency got black listed in Russia and we were forced to switch, only to find out that our first agency went off the list after we had worked with a new one). The overwhelming amount of adoption paperwork for so long (not even counting the time spent on IVF) has left us with a feeling that an agency that helps us with the work as much as possible may be the right fit. I think our situation is probably uncommon and our options have shrunk over the years. I guess I have started to get tired. Why does it have to be this hard? ~sigh~