[lhernan]

HI everyone! My husband and I live in Dallas,TX and we are new to the process. We are hoping and praying to adopt an infant, but we don't have a lot of money....Any ideas on how to go about adopting a baby without having to pay $8-10,000 to do it? Any feedback or advice would be great.

[tobeafamily]

It is very possible to complete a domestic parental placement with total costs under $10K.

It will involve work on your parts.

First, contact several agencies in your area. Look for ones with experience in domestic parental placement. (Hint: If they only want to talk to you about their international programs, they're probably not the right agency for you).

Ask around - other families, local support groups, religious leaders and your OB/GYN may be great sources of information on 'good' agencies.

Also always ask for fee schedules - if they can't give you this, walk away.

Stay away from non-licensed paraprofessionals such as facilitators, referral or networking services as they only add to your expenses.

Good books to read:

Adopting in America: How to Adopt Within One Year by Randall Hicks.

The Open Adoption Experience by Lois Molina

Next, be prepared to network and search! PM me and I'll share ideas.

HTH

Regina

[Support2Adopt]

Hello and welcome!
Unfortuntely, adoption can be rather expensive. One other idea is to first become foster parents and hope to adopt a baby through the system. It doesn't happen alot, but it does happen.
JJ

[lisa in venice]

There are still agencies that charge no fees at all or fees based on your income. The no fee agencies that place infants often have looooooooog waits because the don't spend any money on outreach.

$8-10k is not a whole lot to spend on an adoption especially if you can stretch tht out over a couple of years. Remember that you will qualify for the tax credit of up to $10K so even if you had to borrow that amount you can repay it once you get your ax refund. Nowif you are like us it may take you a couple of years to pay enough federal income tax to get that much back.

We actually charged large portions of our third child's adoption. When he was placed with us we were able to change our withholding to reflect a new tax deduction and with the per child tax credit my dh's take-home increased more than the payment on the credit card. We were able to pay off the total amount in less than a year.

Now if the adoption had cost $20k we might still be paying that sucker off but $10k is a different story. Think about your car payment. It is probably signifigantly more than $8k.

lisa