[fastaff]

Just curious...we are with an agency that we are paying as we go kinda thing...we are in the waiting stage right now...those of you that started the process; did you already have ALL the money ready BEFORE you started your adoption journey?? We have been scrapping it together as we go, we have paid the bulk but I worry because if we have to go out of state we will have to fly there, I think about last minute airfare and hotel costs! (a little late now I know), birth mother expenses etc. I pray that God will take care of us, but wonder if we're not giving Him too much. I would hate to turn down a situation becuse we didn't have the money...yet we have come too far to stop.....
Thanks for listening..............

[AudreyE]

Ours didn't cost a thing, except we paid about $900 to our attorney each time we finalized. In fact, the agency and the state offered to pay us... we turned them down but did negotiate a conditional subsidy in case of problems later on.

Then again, our kids were a year old, 8 months, and 8 months when we adopted them.

Audrey

[jaenelle]

We didn't have the money saved up ahead of time. We were able to pay the homestudy, application fees, and all the miscellaneous expenses up to that point (copies, postage, fingerprints, etc.) but we got the call much sooner than we expected (were told probably 6-9 months, plus a couple months of pregnancy until birth, got called in just over 2 months with a baby who was already born, so obviously were NOT prepared for that). We had arranged for a line of credit on our home for the agency fees, but that still left us needing a way to pay for all the travel expenses, legal, etc. The travel and all post-placement fees, legal, etc. pretty much went on credit cards. It was a scramble situation and you do what you have to do in those kinds of situations, and obviously Yuna is worth it, but it wasn't the financial situation we were hoping for... having a newborn and owing close to $6,000 on credit cards in addition to all our other bills, which included a larger home loan due to the agency fee line of credit.

For adoption #2, we are going to try to save either all, or close to all, of our estimated expenses before beginning because we know it's likely we'll have a short wait this time, too. Since we are not open to gender and only want a certain type of situation, our wait will probably be longer than it was with Yuna, but we don't know that. So that means waiting longer to start than I'd probably like. But I think overall I would rather have the adoption paid for , or at least mostly paid for, and not have the stress of credit card or other debt hanging over our heads.

The worst problem with this plan is that the saving is going much slower than I'd like. We just don't make enough money to be able to save large amounts at a time, and while I know that every little bit helps, at this rate, we're looking at Yuna being 3 or even 4 before we can start again. While that doesn't make me especially happy, I think it will just have to be that way. And maybe it's God's way of saying that our next child will not be ready for us until then.

I'm just trying (haha!) to stay patient and let God take care of me and help me do what needs to be done in order to save that much money.

[Rebecca G.]

We has an unexpected situation. We also thought we had 6-9 months and within a month we were called about a baby boy. We used a 0% credit card and paid it off prior to the due date. It was like a loan that was interest free. We also borrowed against our retirement fund with no penalities or fee's. The repayment is low and we repay out of each check so we don't notice it. Creative financing can go a long way.

[amanet17]

Audrey,

Did you go through some kind of state program?

[KIC1975]

I'm almost embarrassed to say that we have a wonderful family member bank rolling our entire adoption. With our first we went through the foster care system and so there was no cost. About 6 weeks ago this family member asked if we would be interested in another adoption and if we were they would like to pay for it. Wow! So we are just finishing up our home study and profile. We should be officially "waiting" in another week or so. :-)

[KarynB]

Nope, we didn't have it paid off, and in fact it took us a couple of years to pay of the consolidated loan we took out to finance the adoption. But, it was obviously worth it cause we did it again last year! We have about $4,000 to pay off still, but I am not worried, I have my baby home in my arms and that is all that matters. I figured an adoption costs about as much as a car and you finance that, so why not this too? We also did fundraising, got a grant and saved some of the fees...

[nikkianni]

We saved enough ahead to pay for the homestudy, creation of profile books, etc.
Then we crossed our fingers and jumped in. Our agency had a set fee that wsa paid at intervals in the adoption process: Homestudy, Matched, Placement, etc.
While we were waiting our dog had a litter of puppies and we saved the money from that and a previous litter. It was a good thing we did, since matching and placement happened for us within 24 hours.
Because it was so fast, we did have to take out a small loan, but we'll have that paid off with this year's tax return.
After DD was born we decided our dear golden retrievers had done enough for the cause and there won't be any puppies to fund adoption #2.

[zempagirl]

We saved enough for the first part of the adoption~ the application fees, the adoption classes, etc. Then when we had to pay the last half we borrowed from my 401k, which is a nice way to do it if you can afford the paycheck dedcution.

[sbaglio]

We made a plan to have all the money required for the adoption early in the process. Though we didn't have the entire amount when we started our homestudy, during the wait for a match, we accumulated the remaining amount. Sure, we had the fallback plan of using credit cards if a match happened quickly, but that was not an appealing option. If at all possible, I would opt to collect the majority of what you will need, if not for your own peace of mind, at the least. Stressing about debt while caring for a new baby can't be fun at all. JMO.

[devildogwife]

We paid for about half with the extra pay my DH made during 9 months of deployment. The other half, we borrowed and will be paying off for for a while.

[marvylus]

We had just finished the paper chase for our first int'l adoption when a domestic private adoption fell into our lap. Instead of a 12 month lead time to save, we had 2 months! Then we also adopted our foster daughter that same year! Finances were crazy, I had to do SOMETHING. So I reserved my padded room and on top of all of it, I started a home based biz in addition to my FT job. We had everything (debts AND both adoptions) paid off in 6 months!


Now, 2 years later we are in the paperchase for our 3rd (going international this time). THIS time however, it is NOT stressing me out. I still only do the biz parttime, but have plenty of residual income coming in that the adoption is already fully financed.

Find what works for you. For some it is loans, others credit cards, for many of us we dig deep and pull off another job. If you want to know more about what I did, email me.

No matter what it is NOT easy, but well worth it. Just find what works for you.

HTH

[Shanson619]

My husband and I are at a crossroad regarding our financial preparedness for a possible adoption situation that has come up. We turned in our profile book with the assumption that things would take time. We got a call 2 DAYS later. He feels anytime from June on would be financially reasonable, but says it would be (based on his "spreadsheet) not totally resposible to accept a situation before then. This baby boy is due one week from today and the bf has not signed papers yet but seems to be coming around now. If this works out, I have to show my husband that creative financing can make it possible. I cannot imagine turning this opportunity away after all we've been through. If it works out I can't see myself able to walk away - HELP!

[Beautyqueen616]

Well we are trying to start doing foster care but found out about a baby coming in June that we would like to try to adopt that would be going through foste care. With our 9 month old she just kind of happened and we have a private attorney that only does adoptions where you find your own birthmom, or she also does intl. and allowed us to make payments. Our daughter is now "paid off". We are trying to save 25% of our income but I ended up switching jobs and had to take a paycut (my happiness is worth it though) I also took a cut in hours so I went back to my part time job. I'm trying to find something to do from home too. Possibly discovery toys or something like that. I could sell the stuff on Ebay I think.

[Gwen72]

We paid a little when we sent in the app fee, then a little more when we had the homestudy. So far we've paid those fees out of savings. I have a 0% interest loan for the rest of the finances. We are paying as much as possible for the next year and will pay it off with our adoption tax credit.