[guatmom4113]

How much does it cost (excluding Dossier prep) to adopt from China? Also, has anyone adopted a slightly older child 3-5 y/o or even older?? Is the wait any shorter? Thanks.

[Lissa]

Okay, not including the usual...we're having a baby expenses of car seats, furniture, etc....we spent between $17,000 and $18,000. That included EVERYTHING though... travel, fees, photocopying fees, courier fees, postage, cat sitters for the trip, the works. All together we spent around $22,000 with room, clothing, supplies, etc.

I adopted a 12 month old. Waits can be shorter for special needs children and often older is considered a SN.

Hope this helps!

[Toto113]

We are currently waiting for our referral of a 3-4 year old healthy girl. We were originally told our dossier would be expedited because we were requesting a child age 3+. However at the December 2, 2005 meeting in Beijing, the decision was made to expedite dossiers for children age 6+. Our agency has told us that our wait will be the same as for an infant, but there is a 'very slight' chance it may be a little earlier since few people request this age group.

[Sean&Shan]

we also spent around $22 thousand, about what we expected. But that also included a hefty amount of spending money for China to buy gifts for our daughter, our family and ourselves! We wanted to make sure that we had momentos of both our trip and her homeland. My favorite was a fairly large oil painting that we bought and now have hanging in our family room. It was the most expensive thing we bought, but it is now an heirloom we will pass to her when she is older- well worth it. And we also now have artwork depicting a beautiful Asian women, someone she can look to as she grows older and know that we appreciate that beauty.