International adoption is not any more expensive than some domestic adoptions
Our adoption will cost about $40,000. Of that, $12-14 is in travel expenses. That is a big chunk.
The money we pay to our agency pays the salaries of the people who translate our documents, communicate with the embassy in the US and in the country we're adopting from, goes to the orphanage we are adopting from for humanitarian aid, and to make sure nothing gets messed up and that we can bring our baby home. We believe that it is money well spent.
We have some friends who recently went to meet the baby they had received a referral for. It turned out that the baby has some pretty severe medical issues and our agency arranged for the baby to be admitted to the hospital and cared for for several days, had at least one MRI done to find the source of seizures the baby had been having, to have the baby cared for by a neurologist, etc. This couple had to turn down the referral because they are not equipped to care for this child. But our adoption agency is caring for this child! If part of my agency fees have gone to pay for the medical care of this baby, I will be ecstatic
I hope this helps you understand
Karla