Fees

I will speak for my family when I say we don't have thousands of dollars just laying around. We are a single income family who is raising two children. We provide very well for our children, own a home, and have day to day expenses. No one ever argues with having to pay for legal, counseling, or housing expenses. Aparents have a problem with there not being a cap on adoption costs. Why is one agency able to charge only 10% of your income and another agency charges $28,000 for the same services. We would love to have another child in our home, but just don't have the thousands of dollars it takes up front to do it. We are great parents and feel an empitness because we can't make our dreams come true.

I understand how you feel on the fees. It can be very discouraging too. There is a huge dollar amount in agencys. Yes there are alot of just plain fee that a acouple accumulates during adoption and it is hard for some to come up with the initial amount and still make sure that years down the road they can still provide for the family. I don't know where you live but net work tell people tell everyone. You never know who might know someone (don't tell everyone so much that they run when they see you :) ) If it is meant to be a baby will come. I have heard of some a moms selling items on ebay (like a business) to earn money for adoption. There are so many ways to make alittle extra to put away for adoption. I really do find is sad that there are bparents who need a parents and aparents who need bparents and sometimes it does seem like the middle man gets rich off of two lifes hurting. Granted everyone has to make a living but I do think they should go by income or something. I even wrote Oprah about this .. Sorry I'm so long winded but It felt good to get it out Thanks Johnna

I have an aunt who works for an adoption agency. I feel someone has to pay for the secretarys and the others who work there. Agencys dont work for free. I am using a private practice attorney. He has to charge fees too. He has secretary to pay and a paralegal to pay. He works hard for his fees.

I live in A small town and very few situations come up for adoption attorneys . Did you learn of your attorney by word of mouth or yellow pages. Maybe all of you that have or are adopting can post states and names so if we live in that state we can submit our names to them to ? Thanks

I am going to be a birthmother and I learned of my attorney thru my parents cause he was a very good friend of theirs. I can ask my attorney if he is taking anymore clients.

What happens to couples like my husband and myself who cannot have children and cannot afford to adopt? Why must adoptions cost so much? I have sadly come to the conclusion that we will never be a family. We will always be just a couple. We rent a beautiful townhouse on a huge lake in suburban Maryland, we both work, our home is furnished with new furniture, we pay our bills on time and have never gone without yet we cannot afford to adopt because of the prohibitive costs involved. By the time we save the thousands of dollars needed we will be over 40 (we are both 35) I think adoption agencies milk so much money out of desperate childless couples because they know that we are desperate. Simply put most couples do anything to adopt and come up with the money by either selling their assests or getting in huge debt. Sorry if I offend anyone but I have been married for 5 years to a man I have known since I was 10 years old. I have always wished to have so many children and ironically I now can't. I just needed to vent my frustrations and sadness. Sorry. Just my opinion.....not meant to ruffle any feathers or offend anyone.

Gee this has always been one of my favorites topics..... fees!!! As a hopeful adoptive parent it irks me when agencies and even facilitators have such a broad range in fees. I have no problem covering expenses that are allowed by law. I also do not get why attorneys need to charge so much and here is my reason. i know of at least 3 attorneys here in a small town in PA... one charges max of $1000.00 another one charges $1500.00 and the third one who is a Quad A attorney charges $2500., these are very reasonable but I have heard of other attorneys in other states charging over $4000.00 and for what they do the same work as my local attorneys. I understand they have salaries to cover but give me a break, like some Ca. attorneys who charge $9000.00. We can provide a loving, stable and secure home and life for a child but I am not going to pay an agency at least $15,000.00 when I can have that money in a college fund or a trust account building interest for the child as they grow and become of age to access the account. We own our home, have a mortgage payment and all other payments too and yes we could take an equity loan out against the house but why put ourselves in more debt and one never knows what the future will hold. Again, I have no problems covering expenses a birthmom needs such as medicals, legals and reasonable living expenses if allowed by law, but of course PA does not allow adoptive parents to pay living expenses unless it can be proven to the courts that the bmoms state allows them to be pay within reason, which we have paid out a few thousand in living expenses to a bmom, but sadly she delivered a stillborn after becoming very ill and the doctors not listening when she asked them to do an emergency C, they didn't think it was life threatening, gee were they wrong. Patticake... don't worry about venting, that's what all of these groups are for and hang in there and don't lose faith. Jennifer

Gosh is this a great topic...FEES! Well, as the most of the people here I too will probable ruffle feathers but here goes....... Our first adoption cost us $4,000 through an agency. Our son is now 5 and we are considering adoption again. I am blowen away by the high fees. The agency we used the first time has been doing adoptions for over 30 years and still charge the same low fees. We sadly are not able to use them because we have since moved to another state. I do not understand the fees that range 15,000-30,000. We can not afford the high fees. This does not mean that we can not provide a loving, stable and supportive home for a child. Our son does not go with out anything! However, the fees are going to continue to go up as long as there are adoptive couples willing to pay the fees. I feel that the goverment needs to put some type of govern on adoption. The 10,000 tax credit is great but it doesnt help couples that cant afford the inital upfront fees. Then of couse there are the people that say you can adopt from the state with minimal fees. This is true but I think that most couples that are infertial dream of the chance of holding and raising a newborn and it is hard to get a newborn through state adoptions. It is sad that when it comes down to it that "money" is what sits between so many couples and there dream of being a family. God blessed us with a wonderful agency and a wonderful son. He made our dreams come true the first time and beleive he will again. For the couples that feel money is keeping them from their dream, just remember that God is more important than that money and beleive in him and your dream will come true. Hang in there! God Bless,

BlessedinAR.... I agree with you 100%, have faith in God and never give up on your dreams of being a family and it will happen. We are like you, we can provide everything a child will ever need but I do not like the fact that the fees have gone up since the adoption credit was increased, and they have gone up, of course except for a full AA, which makes no sense why fees for a full AA are so much lower than that for a full CC or even a biracial, one birthmom is not that different from the other. There needs to be a cap. I can remember last year seeing fees for some situations that were requiring $12,000. just for living expenses, which is ridiculous and this was in addition to medicals and legals. And also seeing some that were over $40,000.00!! One friend of mine adopted almost a year ago and for 2 attorneys and a counselor her total was around $5,000.00 and another one only paid legals which cost, are you sitting.... $250.00 plus the couple hundred for their homestudy, so why is adoption so expensive when it can be done for so much less??? There are good agencies and facilitators and than there are bad ones who expect to be paid over $5000.00 to make a match only and say they provide services but are only interested in when they will receive their check and do not follow through with what they are suppose to. Again, I have never had a problem helping a birthmom who needs it, but I won't and can't pay out the fees some of these agencies expect either. Have faith for dreams do come true!!

Thanks for the info and sounds good to me. I know when we did our taxes we could not claim the expenses of $8300.00 that we had put out from a couple previous matches because they did not work out so there for there was no adoption finalized in 2002, but we were told that we could rollover these expenses put out, which I hope my accountant knew what he was talking about. I will check out the site you gave and again thanks!! Jennifer