The Cost of the Adoption Process

So you really want to know the costs involved in the adoption process?  Are you sure?  Before you read on, you must solemnly promise that if you believe God is calling you to adopt, you will not allow this information to be discouraging.  Did you promise?  Wonderful.  :)  You are also required to memorize Luke 18:27 -

Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men, is possible with God."

 

You have it engraved in your memory?  Good.  It is very important to note that you are not "paying for a child", you are paying for the processes and professional services involved.  Here are the average estimates of the costs involved.  The huge variance is a result of several factors that vary from adoption-to-adoption.  Some of those variables are:  the costs of traveling to the country, the area of the US where the adoption is taking place, if the child has special needs, domestic adoptions might include legal/living expenses/medical provisions/counseling for the birthparent(s), if the adoption is between relatives, mailing costs, differing costs between adoption agencies, etc.

 

Foster Care Adoption - approximately $2500

Domestic Adoption - approximately $20,000 to $40,000

International Adoption - approximately $20,000 to $50,000

 

I'm assuming that sound I just heard was your jaw dropping.  :)  Before looking into the costs ourselves, we had no idea it was so expensive.  This link has an interesting break-down of costs:

http://www.theadoptionguide.com/cost/articles/how-much-does-adoption-cost

 

Many people are very surprised to find that domestic adoption is so close in cost to international adoption.  I think we all make the assumption that traveling expenses alone would cause an international adoption to cost more.  For the record, our adoption process through Korea was a total of $35,000 (the site above lists Korea as $38,000), which included attorney fees for finalizing his adoption and paying $550 for his Certificate of Citizenship.  Thankfully, we received the fully refundable adoption credit, which left our costs at around $22,000.  We saved and held fundraisers for the remainder, as well as receiving frequent flyer miles from my parents that were astronomically helpful with our flight costs.  We give the good Lord all the glory for providing completely for our first process!!

The next chance I have, I'll give the specifics on our estimated adoption expenses through China's Special Needs Program.

Smiles!