Friday, October 3, 2014

Why Adoption is So Expensive




One of the questions we always get about adoption is about the cost.  Why is it so expensive?  I've even heard some frustration from people who think it should be cheaper. After all, the point is to get kids into families, not make a profit. I truly understand and I wish that adoption could be cheaper but I want to pull back the veil a little and show you why adoption is so expensive.


As you can see adoption isn't like buying a car or a house.  It isn't one lump sum payment with everything included.  It is a series of little costs and all of those costs have their purpose.  Some of them can totally vary based on a family's needs or situation.  My husband and I already have valid passports but some couples don't, so that is a possible expense.  Travel can vary by season and where you are traveling to and from.  We are blessed to live near a major international airport but if you lived in rural Wyoming, you might have to take more flights to get to China.  You might have different medical costs to get through the physical exam section.  We had to pay $25 for each of us to get a tuberculosis test, for example. 

Most of the costs are fairly fixed though.  It costs a fair sum of money for the home study because we have met with our social worker three times and she has basically written a short autobiography of our lives.  We have had to go to different offices for fingerprints and those agencies have set costs. You pay the orphanage in China around $5000 (in Yuan) for your child.  You also have another cost for their in-country exam and paperwork as well as getting them a passport and US visa so they can travel.  Imagine what a 2-3 week trip would cost to go to China for 2 people and then add in another ticket for our child to get home.  You can see very quickly how those costs add up and that they are all legitimate reasons for adoption to be very expensive.  In addition to all of this, we are paying experts at our agency to guide us through this process and they are doing a wonderful job.

So far we have made it through paying for that first blue shaded area, "Application and Dossier Building".  We have the money on hand through our savings and amazing and generous donations to cover the 2nd section "Dossier Submission and Waiting".  The problem (and blessing) in our case is that we won't be doing much waiting since we have already been matched with a specific child.  We hope that we will be quickly approved and be waiting on travelling very soon.  This means that we don't have the benefit of that waiting time for much fundraising and that the biggest amount, "Referral and Travel", will be due fairly soon.  


We researched all the different sites like GoFundMe, etc. but this one allows you to give to adoptive families that have been verified through their agencies.  Best of all, AdoptTogether is a 501c3 organization so you receive a receipt that can be claimed on your taxes.  They take your contribution and then grant it back to us. We will also be applying for a host of other adoption grants.  You can give as much or as little as you can and if you want to give on a recurring basis like monthly until Liam comes home, you are very welcome to.  Please share our story and our site and know that we are so thankful for everyone who has given.  It is so exciting to see how God is writing Liam's story through each of you who have given and prayed for us.  

No comments:

Post a Comment