[LisaV]

My husband and I have recently stopped fertility treatments and moved on to adoption. We asked friends and co-workers for references on agencies and were directed towards several. Unfortunately these did not work out for us. One was extremely religious and we are religious people and the other wanted completely open adoptions only. Then out of nowhere an agency contacted me after seeing my posting on Resolve. They seem great for many things and others scare me to death. They have only been around for several months. They are Lifetree Adoptions in Dallas. I actually contacted them and talked for over an hour and I feel much better, but still hesitant.

We are currently going for domestic newborn adoption and are open to race somewhat. They are charging fees with everything included minus the final legals at $32,000. Then we need to pay the application fee. They are on an income based scale which completely irritates my husband. Actually when I look at several other agencies the numbers are really close, in the mid to high $20s. Now my concern is adopting out of state. They are in Texas and we are in Alabama. The agency we have contacted to do our home study is charging $1750 and will charge $200 per visit post placement. It is my understanding that Texas requires 5 post placement visits. This just adds up to so much money!

Also what is required to bring a child into Alabama? Do we need our own attorney? Several agencies say they take care of everything, but I do not know. Some of our friend have used the attorney associated with the agency only and things worked out fine. Do most people do this?

I am just lost, confused, overwhelmed, you name it. Does anyone have any info or feedback? By the way, sorry for the length of this.

Lisa

[tobeafamily]

Those fees are HIGH. We adopted DS, he was born in Texas. Our ENTIRE cost for adopting including our expenses for advertising, postage, travel, hotel, etc. was $14K. And that was more than the average. Is this a licensed child placing agency or a facilitator? Please be sure you understand as there is a critical difference.

Texas only requires 3 post placement visits over not-less-than 6 months with a minimum 30 days between visits. One visit must be in the home.

Do these fees include legals? Because if not you can expect to spend another $3K to $5K for your attorney in Texas - assuming you plan on returning and finalizing there. You can find a listing of attorneys who specialize in adoption by state at www.adoptionattorneys.com. These are all members of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, often referred to as Quad-A attorneys.

You have the option of finalizing your adoption in your home state, following its' laws, or finalizing in Texas, as they don't have a residency requirement. Do the math - for us it was cheaper with travel to go back to Texas, for other states though it may be more cost-effective to complete in your home state.

To bring your child home, you'll need to go through something called Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children or ICPC. ICPC requires a sending agency (attorney or licensed child placing agency in birth state) and receiving agency (attorney or licensed child placing agency in your state). You will need to complete your supervision in your home state using an agency licensed there.

Go to your library or to Amazon or B&N or wherever and check out these books:

Adopting in America: How to Adopt Within One Year by Randall Hicks - half this book is a state-by-state review of adoption laws including what you can and cannot pay for birth family wise in that state.

The Open Adoption Experience by Lois Molina - great for understanding domestic open and semi-open adoption

HTH. Please feel free to email with questions tobeafamily@excite.com

Regina AMom to Ryan Joshua Thomas

[chris27288]

that is way too expensive. you don't need to spend that much money to adopt a newborn. i would look elsewhere.
and yes, it is very confusing. there are many, many good agencies out there that cost a fraction of the price you mentioned.
chris

[Support2Adopt]

Hi Lisa!
First of all, those fees seem pretty high to me. Might I suggest that you try to find and agency or attorney in your local area? There's a better possibility that you could find an infant in your own state, thus cutting out traveling fees. When adopting an infant from another state, you need to travel to that state and remian there until the Interstate Compact goes through. The time of this varies so much from state to state. We've adopted four newborns and our most expensive adoption was $18,000 and that includes travel fees.
JJ

[Byrnes]

Lisa-
That is way to high....we adopted internationally (China) and including travel we didn't pay that much. We live in Texas and only had to do three post placement visits. Additionaly the agency who does your home study should charge a flat rate including post placement and only charge for mileage. I would shop around for someone else in the homestudy department as well. We found fees to be quite different from agency to agency when we first began. Good luck

[skelley2002]

Hi Lisa,

I know that others have told you that you are paying way too much. Recommend going to another agency. We are using one in Alabama called Villa Hope. They come highly recommended from others who have adopted. Also, Catholic Family Services was a big help when we started, although they also charge based on income. Their charges, though, are significantly less than what you are looking at. E-mail me off line if you need contact info for either agency.

Sean

[Emmy132]

Hi Lisa.

I can fully understand where you are coming from. We are going through the same thing and then we switched to a private adoption and the cost are more reasonable. We are going through Hugs Connection. Let me give you the information. It wouldnt hurt calling and getting some information.

Contact at Hugs - Mary or Nancy
800-450-7191 or 888-316-8575
email questions to - adoptcon@pivot.net

They are wonderful. Tell them Emmy sent you.

Bets of luck,
Emmy

[bwinks]

Hi my name is Barbara and I was looking up Lifetree adoption agency to see what if any feedback was averrable because my husband and I recently signed up with them. We could not have asked God to have sent us to a better place. They have treated us like Gold. They have answer every one of our questions. Some of them over and over again. I was confused when I saw this post about this fee. I called and asked why it was so high and they explained that they do have an all inclusive program that is done on a three tier program also and that is why this fee was so much higher then ours was. They do have two different programs. We are in the other one and it runs from $15,000-25,000. I hope this clears up the fee question. I want everyone to know the treatment that we have gotten makes us feel as if we were the only adoptive family they have. They truly care about the people they work with on both sides of the tingle. I thank God everyday for bring me to the agency. It gives me such peace of mind that I have them on my team. I wouldn't hesitate in recommending them to anyone. In my opinion they are the best

[redhedded]

You have gotten many good suggestions and plenty of warnings about the fees you mentioned. I will just add that you are rarely confined to adopting within your state or geographical area, as long as an experienced and reputable agency or attorney is contracted by you. We are in California; our agency is in Utah, and our daughter was born in a third Southern state. While it may be easier without ICPC and reduce travel costs, you might not want to limit yourself. Consent and birthfather laws apply in the state where the baby was born; finalization occurs in your state of residence, with a few exceptions such as Texas, which is an option, and Arkansas, where finalization occurs the day that the 10 day revocation period ends. I recommend reading the Adoption Option and searching the internet to familiarize yourself with state laws; Adoption.com is a good layman source. Good luck on your journey.

[brighteyesk9]

You are not alone. My husband and I are finding the same thing. Why is adoption so extremely expensive. I somehow found the National Adoption Foundation website and there is a loan that they offer. I filled out the form and the bank branch that is in my area called me and I was told 3 different stories from them. Can you believe that the interest rate on a loan could be up to 30%? We are really getting discouraged but we will never give up. Please if anyone knows how to save money, write grant letters, contact agencies, attorney's or any other information that could be money saving knowledge, please let us all know.

[bwinks]

brighteyesk9,

Don't give up I also have looked into loans there are a couple of places that I found. NBNA America has a adoption loan that is 8.99% and up fixed loan and NAF has a Gold Option that is 12.99% from $1500.00 - $30,000.00. I took this info and went to my bank which is Wells Fargo and got a personal loan for upto 10yr's with no pre pentalty pay off. Hope this helps. Barbara

[brighteyesk9]

Remember that the NAF is who I contacted and got a call back from the local bank. I think NAF is for the birds. I tried to contact NAF but on their website the submit button does not work. We will adopt. This is only making us want to adopt that much more. Thank you for the reply.

[bwinks]

The phone numbers that I have for NAF is 1-888-627-8767 and the number for NBNA is 1-888-844-3775 hope this helps.
Good Luck