[jules17]

Adoption #1 - approx. $35,000 including lots of travel to Guatemala - agency international adoption

Adoption #2 - approx. $27,000 - private international adoption

Adoption #3 - not sure yet, but probably $18-24,000

[Sohmakun]

Originally Posted by BrandyHagz

Please remember to ALWAYS check with a certified adoption attorney before using legal advice gained from the forums as 'law' - often, people forget that adoption law varies by state, thus resulting in different laws and guidelines in each state.

I forgot to mention this Brandy, thank you! I'm a graphic designer and NOT an adoption attorney. The best legal advice about adoption comes from those with actual degrees in law and not from the "armchair" adoption attorney.

Originally Posted by EZ2Luv

How then would the adoption be recognized in MA? Even as a non resident of the state you are adopting from, you are still a MA resident. KWIM? How would that work?

Okay, I give you an illustration. You live in MA and have decided that you want to adopt a newborn Latino baby. Your state laws say that independent adoption is illegal in your state. Therefore, you contact one of the best adoption attorneys in California to ask if she can do a non-resident adoption. She states that she has helped many non-residents to adopt and would be happy to help you. You sign up with her and complete your home study using a MA adoption agency to satisify the laws in California and not MA. You attorney calls you three days (were imagining remember )later to tell you some awsome news. A birthmother saw your profile and would love for you to adopt her baby. A few weeks later she gives birth to a lovely baby girl. When she is released from the hospital, she signs a "Wavier of Rights to Concent Revoke" and her rights are terminated immediately. After that is complete you return to your hotel with your new daughter in your arms. Six months later, you return to California to finalize your adoption. After the judge has ruled in your favor you are now the legal parent of your daugher. You return to MA and throw a big party for this awsome occasion.

In a nutshell that's how non-resident adoptions work. Your state laws don't matter but instead the laws of the state you want to adopt from control your situation.

[EZ2Luv]

Interesting, not that I am currently considering a domestic adoption. I do know that California is great as far as working with surrogacy arrangements, so I guess adoption would be similar.
Now I want to find out all about it, just for the sake of knowledge. I ll have to ask an attorney. It sounds too simple to fly in MA though. lol

EZ

[mrskt]

Domestic minority newborn program through national agency based in Texas that does sliding scale based on income - $20,000ish by the time it's all said and done - 5 trips there (driving), hotels, food, homestudy, legal, post-placement, agency fees, etc.

We probably could have found less pricey programs or gone private, particularly given our openness to race and drug use, but we felt the "safety" of the program was worth the cost for the peace of mind. And for us, it was. No regrets.

[dutchgirl2]

45k? Holy moly! That seems excessive to me.

We did domestic agency adoptions through the same agency twice. The first came to 14k the second to just under 10k. The tax credit was definately helpful.

[Mom2Max]

We got lucky and ours was under $5,000. My husband's work paid $3200 and so we ended up paying $1800. This included homestudy, travel and everything. We got lucky because our DD's birthmom lived in-state.

Agency Domestic Adoption

[beav]

We did a domestic adoption through an agency and paid 15,500. I cannot believe it would cost 25-30,000 for a domestic adoption ...what in the world does all that money go for????? I can see International with travel fees, country fees etc but domestically? I guess we were very fortunate and the bottom line is it didnt actually cost that much because we are getting tax refunds over the next few years that will pay a big portion of that back.
Good Luck

[Fran27]

Originally Posted by beav

We did a domestic adoption through an agency and paid 15,500. I cannot believe it would cost 25-30,000 for a domestic adoption ...what in the world does all that money go for????? I can see International with travel fees, country fees etc but domestically? I guess we were very fortunate and the bottom line is it didnt actually cost that much because we are getting tax refunds over the next few years that will pay a big portion of that back.
Good Luck

Let's see... Counseling, birthmothers support (driving to their appointment, getting them groceries etc), a bit used to make up for all the expenses they use for moms that change their mind, ICPC costs, attorney costs, hotel and travel costs, information and education meetings, advertising... I know our agency was non profit and donated a lot of money to orphanages abroad... so if some of my money went there, I'm ok with it.

[Sohmakun]

Originally Posted by dutchgirl2

45k? Holy moly! That seems excessive to me.

We did domestic agency adoptions through the same agency twice. The first came to 14k the second to just under 10k. The tax credit was definately helpful.

I have met many people in real life and on these boards who spend close to that amount adopting from Russia and Kazakhstan.
Funny thing is I considered adopting from these countries for a very long time but the cost is astronomical! I also realized that the more open I was to special needs to more the doors toward domestic infant adoption grew.

[journeytolily]

Our Guatemalan adoption - $30,000 including two trips
Our Korean adoption - $14,000, one trip (got a $3000 adoption subsidy from the agency)

Domestic adoption - we anticipate between $11,000-$14,000 total

[JLW99]

Our 1st adoption from Russia: came to $45,00 with 3 trips. We were told it would be 25-30K but hit many snags.
Our 2nd adoption was a private agency domestic and came about while we were waiting to adopt internationally again. A complete surprise and amazing story. It cost 20K. We're in MA, too. This included everything and it was the simplest, smoothest thing ever. Like night and day compared to Russia.

[RavenSong]

Originally Posted by aclee

We paid the agency in MO for lifetime counseling for all of Ty's bfamily. It was a large part of our expense, and it wasn't something we had to do...we asked...we wanted that for them.

Aclee, I couldn't let this post go by without commenting. YOU ROCK, GIRL!!!!

You are my hero today! It does my heart good to hear about people like you and your husband.

[aclee]

Originally Posted by RavenSong

Aclee, I couldn't let this post go by without commenting. YOU ROCK, GIRL!!!!

You are my hero today! It does my heart good to hear about people like you and your husband.

Yeah we're pretty awesome aren't we? LOL...wicked small ego's too.

M had no counseling prior to Ty's birth, and only a few days of it before she relinquished...She is a very strong lady and she seemed very solid in her choice. BUT that didn't make it easy! Or that it would be easy on their marriage, or children, or anything else.

The counseling we paid for covers the whole family, for everything...it was sort of funny talking to the SW about it...she thought it was a bad idea because we could pay about 1/4 the amount and cover them for the next 3 years and that would be enough. That lifetime was excessive somehow(and she was an AMAZING social worker!) and that we should know it really would be lifetime for everything they ever needed and that wasn't really our responsibility. Like they would somehow take advantage of COUNSELING?? They can even get counseling if one of their parented children has behavior issues. So I just said, well how do WE know those behavior issues aren't him dealing with the fact he has an adopted brother? She shrugged her shoulders and said, ok...and went and got the paperwork. It makes me feel good that we did it, but I did it for her. 5K for lifetime counseling for 5 people? I can easily say that was the best investment of our adoption...

In talking with the social worker afterwards she said that she had thought about it and she DID feel it was the right option, and that it was going to be presented more as a requirement now. That birthfamilies did deserve lifetime support for a choice that lasts a lifetime. I hope that's the truth...I hope they make it a requirement.

[ml2waiting]

Cost about $19,000 for everything... interstate adoption with an agency

[Leigh131313]

Do you honestly want to know my original reaction to this question? My soul. Our first experience adopting was very challenging - failed matches, disillusioned with our agency......

but financially - our first cost 8200 if I remember correctly.

but honestly, the money was the easiest part.