Those fees are HIGH. We adopted DS, he was born in Texas. Our ENTIRE cost for adopting including our expenses for advertising, postage, travel, hotel, etc. was $14K. And that was more than the average. Is this a licensed child placing agency or a facilitator? Please be sure you understand as there is a critical difference.
Texas only requires 3 post placement visits over not-less-than 6 months with a minimum 30 days between visits. One visit must be in the home.
Do these fees include legals? Because if not you can expect to spend another $3K to $5K for your attorney in Texas - assuming you plan on returning and finalizing there. You can find a listing of attorneys who specialize in adoption by state at
www.adoptionattorneys.com. These are all members of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, often referred to as Quad-A attorneys.
You have the option of finalizing your adoption in your home state, following its' laws, or finalizing in Texas, as they don't have a residency requirement. Do the math - for us it was cheaper with travel to go back to Texas, for other states though it may be more cost-effective to complete in your home state.
To bring your child home, you'll need to go through something called Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children or ICPC. ICPC requires a sending agency (attorney or licensed child placing agency in birth state) and receiving agency (attorney or licensed child placing agency in your state). You will need to complete your supervision in your home state using an agency licensed there.
Go to your library or to Amazon or B&N or wherever and check out these books:
Adopting in America: How to Adopt Within One Year by Randall Hicks - half this book is a state-by-state review of adoption laws including what you can and cannot pay for birth family wise in that state.
The Open Adoption Experience by Lois Molina - great for understanding domestic open and semi-open adoption
HTH. Please feel free to email with questions
tobeafamily@excite.com
Regina AMom to Ryan Joshua Thomas