You too can adopt

One of the things I hear most frequently is that people can't afford to adopt. You have to understand though, there are lots of things/ways to make it happen. It took 18 months for our adoption, so we had some time to play with, more than some. Still, it is possible. Most people don't talk about the cost, unless it related to fund raising.I understand it offends some people to be asked, but I have never been one of those types of people. I have no issues with talking about the cost because maybe more people will see that adoption is really doable. Of course everyone has their ways, and some people were definitely able to raise more money than we were.

First of all, I estimate the cost of our adoption to be around $17,000, and when we started we had NOTHING saved. The 1st couple of costs involved were USCIS(immigration). We paid them around $1400. Next was the homestudy, and it was $900. They allowed us to pay it over 2 months. Our agency did our adoption at cost, so the actual fee was very low. Still, it probably took me over a year to pay it off. The translation(before and in country) ended up costing about $2100. Little by little we paid on that over the last 18 months. Then there was the in country fee which was $3500, and we received a grant from gift of adoption to pay for that.

I know I am leaving things out like air fare. It was around $2600. We took out a loan to cover that. There are also additional fees like in country fees which were about $2200 counting food. We paid for passports for ourselves and lots of appostile fees for documents. BUT keep in mind currently there is a $12,150 tax credit for adoptions. So knowing this and that our adoption would be final this year, we played with numbers, and we lowered the tax money being taken out of our checks, and that is how we paid for everything. That's is not what some people would do, but we knew what our liabilities were and we knew we could make it work. We also received a $520 grant from reecesrainbow. We sold popcorn, did car washes, and we sold on ebay too. So, after the tax credit, we figure we will only be out of pocket for this adoption a few thousand dollars. Now THAT is doable for almost anyone!!!