[JenRam]

Hi everyone!

I am new to this site and, for that matter, this subject so I need all the help I can get. My husband and I have a daughter already (16months) and are expecting our second in June 2005. For a long time though I have felt a strong desire to adopt a child, for many reasons. My husband is a little undecided and the thing that worries us both the most is the cost involved. We both feel totally initimdated by the overall cost and I keep trying to put it in perspective (ie. costs are spread out over a period of time) and my heart says "cost is not an issue!" but it is a reality afterall. We will probably have to take out a loan at some stage to cover the expense as I have been told to expect upwards of $20,000 in total.

My question to those who have done this before, or who are currently working through the process, is how do we stop ourselves from feeling intimidated by the cost? What is the reality of expenses, eg. how much how often?

Also, how do you decide what country to adopt from. What are the current opportunities for Australians (ie. what countries are available?) and is that the same for all States? (We live in Darwin, NT.)

As you can see we are very new to this so any uidance you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Jen

[Katrinad]

Wow! That is a huge cost. In NZ the costs relate to lawyers, and by all accounts shouldn't be more than $1800 to $2000. Depends who you hire I guess. $20,000 is phenomenal. What on earth would be involved? Also, I have HEARD, (wouldn't rely on this) that adoption happens even less in Australia than in NZ.
Katrina

[Lindsie]

Check out the DOCS website. They have heaps of info including where you can adopt from, what the restrictions are for each country and so forth. I'm not sure of the address, but just do a search for DOCS. I've only looked at the NSW one so it is probably different in the NT but it might be worth a look.
Good luck!

[cakegirl]

The website you're after for DOCS is here

Rebecca

[Jurol]

Hi Jen,

My husband and I live in the ACT. We have adopted 6 children from overseas (two as single adoptions and four as two sets of siblings) after having two daughters born to me, so we now have 3 daughters and 5 sons. The adoptions took over 13 years in total, and we did it largely on one average income. When we first applied to adopt our oldest girl was 3 and our youngest was 9 months old. My oldest is now 23. Our girls have been enthusiastic about us adopting from the start, and both now hope to adopt children from overseas themselves.

My hubby worked as a journalist at our local paper while I've been a SAHM and more recently a uni student. To fund some adoptions we worked extra hard for a year or two. At one stage he did a pizza delivery run after work, and the pizza run pay went into the adoption fund. I also worked in my home as a family day carer for several years, and the money this raised went into funding our adoptions. We managed with one family car (well ... a minibus) and have only bought a second car since he was given a redundancy payout a year ago.

So it can be done. It meant careful budgeting, and occasionally putting extra effort into fund raising. However it was the best thing we've done and I'd happily do it all over again. Finances are manageable if you take them one bit at a time. In all our adoptions totalled around $60,000 (the largest component being the overseas trips) and if we'd ever sat down at the beginning and looked at a figure like that we'd have thought it impossible.

So far as countries are concerned, the most useful thing I'd recommend (I'm involved in pre-adoption education with our govt dept) is to contact your local adoptive family support group and start talking to other adoptive parents. I would recommend that as the first thing to do in any case. It is an invaluable source of support for you, and later on for your adopted child. NT intercountry adoptions are handled through the agency in SA. The most popular countries currently are China, Ethiopia, Korea, India and the Philippines. Selecting a country depends on a variety of things - your ages, your finances (some programs are a lot more expensive than others), the age of the child you hope to adopt, your connections to particular countries, the waiting list for some countries, and so on. As 5 of our 6 children were adopted as older children we were also concerned about the type of orphange care children receive. The situation in sending countries can change overnight, so it is worth finding out about a few programs before deciding which is best for your family.

Good luck,
Julia

[LibertyArk]

Julia, this is an awesome post and I would give you positive reputation pints but apparently I have already done so with another thread-- oh well, here's just to say I think you have great wisdom, and what a crazy woman you are! Six kids!!!! half from overseas!!! And to think my husband is wiped out by just one...

tell me, how do you fit sleeping in?

and when was the last time you had a manicure?

[Jurol]

Originally Posted by LibertyArk

Julia, this is an awesome post and I would give you positive reputation pints but apparently I have already done so with another thread-- oh well, here's just to say I think you have great wisdom, and what a crazy woman you are! Six kids!!!! half from overseas!!! And to think my husband is wiped out by just one...

tell me, how do you fit sleeping in?

and when was the last time you had a manicure?

Thanks Liberty I don't sleep in (much to my irritation!) even if the kids do these days. Too many years of getting up early with littlies. Now my kids are 9 to 23 and most sleep in, but not me. And I've never had a manicure. Must put that on my wish list.

Actually there are eight kids, not six. The six refers to the number we've adopted from overseas - we have two bio daughters, and then added five sons and a daughter through adoption. They are the light of my life.

Craziness is a definite bonus to parenting any children - and it does tend to grow with the size of the family.

Julia

[Melissa10]

Hi there all

We live in NZ and are just starting the adoption process. We are very interested in intercountry adoption but are a little put off by the cost (as to whether we can really afford it). The prices we have been told are - Russia $40,000 and China around $25,000. No idea what it costs to adopted locally but if anyone knows would be great if they could drop a line.

Regards
Melissa

[cakegirl]

I guess as far as funding goes, yes, the costs are spread out in smaller amounts over time... For me, I'm just getting my finances in order. I just got a 2nd job, and the money from that will firstly pay off a couple of my debts, and then it will all be going into my mortgage (which has a redraw facility) so that when I need it, it will be there.

Rebecca