adoption

You may have a heart for adoption, but find the prospect of the expense rather daunting. Learning about the reality of the costs involved, however, can give you a sense of what you are dealing with and a financial goal. It will be far less discouraging in the end if you learn about the fees and costs associated with adoption ahead of time. This also avoids getting partly through the process only to find out you can not afford it.

The expenses vary by state, agency, and the type of adoption. There are also various financial resources that can make adoption more affordable. Following is a general list of costs to give you an idea.

1. Agency fees

These vary quite widely, and the same agency usually has different fees for different countries. The categories and approximate costs of agency fees are:

*Application fee: $175-$200
*Home inspection or home study: $1500-$2500
*Dossier fees (international adoption), which involve legal documents from the child’s country of origin: $2500-$3000
*Adoption program fee, which varies by country: $7500-$12,250
*Orphanage fee (international adoptions)-some countries require that a donation be made to the orphanage in which the child lived, and differ by country. In China, the orphanage fee is between $3000-$4000. Be sure to ask your agency about this fee.

2. Post-placement supervision costs range between $200.00 to $1500.00.

3. Legal fees

Varying between $500 and $4000, legal fees encompass the preparation of paperwork and documents related to the adoption.

4. Health/medical care

You may pay for the prenatal care, delivery, and living costs for the time between the child’s birth and the time he or she comes into your home. These expenses can range from $10,500-$32,000.

Health and medical expenses for the child could potentially be relatively high or on-going, perhaps involving counseling, medication, or other specialized care. These costs are entirely dependent on the medical condition of the child.

5. Education costs

The cost of educating an adopted child is no different from any other child unless the adopted child has special needs (such as a learning disability). In an international adoption, there is also the possibility that the child’s education will need to include learning English. In these cases, it’s possible that extra counseling, tutors, or alternative education (such as homeschooling) will need to be implemented.
 
There are various loans, grants and scholarships available to assist eligible adopted children with college tuition and other educational costs. Some states, such as Connecticut, offer assistance to aid in the tuition costs of post-secondary education. Your local department of education will have information specific to your state.

6. Financial resources

There is also financial assistance for the actual costs of adoption. Your employer may offer expense reimbursements through an adoption foundation. Many states offer subsidies and the federal government offers tax credits for adoptive families.

While the state federal aid is usually confined to domestic adoptions and those through the U.S. foster care system, that is not necessarily the case; it is worth looking into. Check with various banks, too – some of them offer low-interest loans to cover adoption costs.  

Once you get a handle on some of the costs, you may find that adoption is a possibility for you.

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Adopting a child is an exciting and wonderful event. The process will go a lot more smoothly if you prepare yourself with knowledge about how adoption works before you begin. Here are some things to keep in mind as you consider the adoption process.

* Open, semi-open and closed adoptions

This is the most important decision you will make as you begin the adoption process.

In an open adoption, an adopted child can maintain contact with his birth parents. An open adoption includes letters, emails, phone calls, and personal visits. It can be helpful for the child’s sense of wholeness and healing to be in contact with his birth parents, but this depends on the situation and lifestyles of the biological parents, of course.

As the adoptive parents, it is your decision as to whether you will allow open contact, but it should be a child-focused decision. It’s not about your convenience or preference; it’s about what is best for the adopted child.

Semi-open adoptions limit but do not prohibit the contact the adopted child can have with her birth parents. Generally, semi-open adoptions include receiving written correspondence and gifts from the biological parents, but no personal visits or phone calls.

Closed adoptions mean no contact is allowed between the adopted child and her birth parents. 

* Domestic adoptions

Domestic adoptions, or adopting a child from your own country, can mean a long wait. Also, babies and children up for adoption in the United States tend to have behavioral or physical problems, which may or may not be an issue for a prospective adoptive parent. It is easier to obtain the medical history of the child in a domestic adoption, however.

The cost of domestic adoptions varies according to state, but generally they include an application fee, attorney fees, psychiatric and physical examinations for parents, and supervision after the adoption. These and any other costs or fees as per your state range in cost from $5000 to $40,000.

* International adoptions

Almost always closed, international adoptions are comparable in cost to domestic adoptions, averaging between $7000 and $30,000. This does not include travel, however. Overall, international adoptions are faster, but obtaining details about the child such as his medical history can be almost impossible.

* Adopting through the foster system

By far the least expensive way to adopt (averaging between $0-$2500), adopting through the foster system is a viable means of adopting a child. However, adoptive parents have less choice in the age, race, gender, and other particulars regarding the child they want to adopt.

Understanding how the process works and the variables involved go a long way in facilitating the adoption process.

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