[Mrs.Brown]

My husband and I would like to adopt a disabled child from Russia. I feel in love with him the minute I saw him (even though it's only been online).
We have a lot of love but not a lot of money. This creates a problem. The adoption itself will be about 18 to 20k. That's not including the travel expenses and money lost from being out of work for the mandatory 2 to 3 week stay Russia.
I'm sure we are not the only ones facing this issue. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to raise the money? I can't stand the idea of leaving my child in a Russian orphanage! I'm so grateful for the Christian forum. Now I can ask you all to please pray for us and our soon to be child (hopefully).
Thank you,
Mrs.Brown

[gkasche]

Dear Mrs. Brown,
How wonderful for you to have found this child...now for some advice to get him home!! We are currently finishing up our third adoption from India. We are of very modest income and I do not work outside the home. For each adoption we started it without a dime set aside for the costs. For each child the money was there when needed. All three of our girls are special needs referals. Anjali was home less than a year and not adopted yet when we asked to be allowed to adopt Maya. Maya is only waiting for her passport and then we will go to India to bring her home. There are many things you can do to cut down the costs...or to raise the money needed.

First of all...be in prayer. Pray for God's blessings on you financially. We prayed and prayed for finances or the direction to find help for Maya and it was all there waiting for us when we needed it...so pray.

Secondly...if the child is special needs and there are no other families interested in him...negotiate the fees with the agency. A friend of mine saw a little guy in India that she fell in love with on an agency's waiting child list. The cost to get him home was $14,000. At first she didn't persue it because they never could have afforded it. I told her to call them back and ask if there could be a reduction in fees since no one else was interested and he had been waiting for some time. Many times the agency will waive their program fee. The agency representing this little one also told her of a grant they give to families who show need. When it was all said and done...two phone calls to the agency dropped the price to $7,000.

Next...if you feel comfortable...copy this child's photo and write a short bio on him...then mail it to every church that you, your friends and family attend. In many cases the church will either take a love offering up for the adoption expenses or they will take one particular expense and work within the church to help you meet that goal.

Borrow from your life insurance policy if you have a cash value.

Check with your employer's...many times there is an adoption benefit.

What I did this...because we were coming off of one placement directly into another one...there had been no time to save up in between. Maya has Atrial Septal Defect...Primary Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn and seizures. Because she was so special needs...I decided to start doing research at the library concerning grants.

I live in Pennsylvania...so I found a book at the library of all charitable organizations of PA. Then I went through the book one page at a time reading what the grant guidelines were. The book was 4 inches thick and it took me some time. What you want to look for is agencies that are permitted to give grants to individuals. Out of thousands in PA....I only found 33 who were remote possibilities. I wrote a letter explaining our situation to each and every one of them...I copied Maya's photo and asked whether a grant would be possible to get her home. Many of them couldn't help because I did not live in the geographic area needed by their guidelines...but three that I heard from were from my area and I didn't even know it. All said and done...we received $750 from one...$2650 from the second...and $3345 from the last one. All for taking some time to write some letters and then follow it up with a phone call.

I know there are grants available for Russian children...if you do research you might find great luck in this.

The friend of mine who was able to get the fees sliced by $7,000 also received three grants like I did and only needed to come up with about $3000 in the end for paperwork and airfare. She then decided to make subs for sale and enlisted many friends and family to take orders from their Sunday school classes and many work places etc. We would meet once per month to assemble the subs and then deliver them the next day. It was $1.25 to make them and they sold for $2.50. In the 6 months it took her to get all the paperwork done etc. to get to the point of thinking of airfare...the money was there.

An adoption garage sale is also a great fund raiser...have friends, family, and church members donate everything and in one weekend you would be surprised at how much it generates.

For our first adoption we even had everyone we knew saving 2L bottles and pop cans. On the container it stated in New York the container was worth 5 cents. We live near the New York border...so we would literally take van loads of these up once a month and cash them all in. 20 makes a dollar...it all added up. That is how we got through the cost of authentication etc. with our first daughter Sejona.

If you go to www.dogpile.com and type in adoption fundraising...look for the site angelfire. Barbara Burke has some great tips on how to find the money to adopt.

A Child Waits foundation will loan 50% of the total adoption cost including travel up to $10,000 at a very low interest rate. This is an unsecured loan.

There have also been people who have turned their vehicle title back into the bank to get a loan of about 5% for the remaining value of the car. This loan could be used for adoption expenses and then when the $10,000 tax credit kicked in the next year...pay the loan off.

There are hundreds of ways to get the money. We have now completed three international adoptions and have found the money to pay our way through in each case without any savings to begin with. We are soon to be a family of 7 and live on a modest one income. If we can do it...any one can.

You know the story of the man who died and went to heaven....Jesus was showing him around and they came to a room with rows and rows of boxes. All of the boxes had a person's name on it. The man asked Jesus if there was a box there with his name on it...Jesus told him that there was and at this the man set out up and down the rows until he found the box with his name on it. When he opened it up it was stuffed full. He didn't understand and asked Jesus what it was that was in the box. Jesus replied...these are all the blessings God had for you if only you would have asked.

Start off in prayer...and follow God's lead. If that little boy is meant to be your son...God will get you through the adoption maze. I have seen the miracle of this over and over again.

I wish you well...now get to work!!! Karen