[melren7]

Hey all! I am sort of new to this whole site and I wanted to ask a couple questions about adoption. My husband and I are in the very begining stages of the adoption process. We have been accepted by an agency and now we are working on some stuff to iron out details, then we take the class. My question is, have you all had to pay some up front fees? LIke for the applications, and the home visit, etc... I just wanted to see if we are with a reasonable agency. We don't have a ton of money, so every cent counts, you know. It blows me away at how much they have to know about you. It frustrates me a little that they need to know so much, but I guess I understand. IT is a child, you know. It just can get frustrating, sometimes. HOw did you guys get through this part of the adoption process? It seems like it takes forever just to get a home visit. HOw did you cope with all the ups and downs of the process? I try to stay focused on the end result, which is a baby, but it is so hard, when you feel like all you are doing is filling out forms and emptying your bank account. Is there any kind of financial help with adoption out there anywhere? THank you so much for listening!

melren

[Hoping4ababy]

I do feel your frustation and sympathize with you. Adoption can be a very long process that seems like it's never ending but when all is said and done, you will have a beautiful baby to love. On the financial help, there are a lot of banks that have adoption type loans. Check with your local banks and see if they offer anything along these lines.

Keep your chin up!
Kenna
Hoping4ababy

[Dearonebaby]

Before I can begin to help, are you adopting a baby or older child? We have gone through a private homestudy which we paid for and because we changed to foster care adoption we had to do all the work over again. Where do you live?

[melren7]

We live in NOrth Carolina and we are adopting a newborn. The agency we are going through is Bethany Christian Adoption.

[melren7]

THank you, kenna for your help. We will definately check our banks in the area. It helps knowing you aren't alone in all of this.

melren

[LisaCA]

we paid as we went along in the adoption process. I'm trying to remember-it was only about 19 months ago that we began the process, but i can't remember well. I know we paid for the homestudy ($1700 i think) and we may have paid a retainer type fee of like $200 or something, but it was definitely paid as we went along. we were billed for the post placements as those took place as well.

the advice we were given was to avoid any agency that required a signif. amount up front, it should be pay as you go.

and some agencies take longer than others for the homestudy to be completed, but ours took 3 months total, mostly because we dragged it out a bit.

there is help for folks who are adopting. check out the dave thomas foundation links:

http://www.davethomasfoundationforad.../financial.asp

good luck!

Lisa

[missyB77]

Melren7, I too live in NC and completed a domestic infant adoption last year. Have you gotten and talked to references from Bethany? You may want to do that if not. I'm assuming we may live near each other too as we are in between both BCS's.

We had to pay app. fees and for the homestudy up front. Many fees are paid upfront or at least part of them. I wish you luck in your process and let us know how you are doing.

Blessings

[StorkWatcher]

Hi, Melren! We started w/ our agency last fall. We live in Indiana and are working through the Catholic Charities agency in our area. Our homestudy took approx 8 - 12 weeks, but it was also throughout the holidays. We paid an application fee (it was maybe $200). Then half the homestudy fee when we began the paperwork and gave the other half at our last meeting w/ the caseworker before she finalized the homestudy. The great thing about our agency is that now we don't pay anything until the day we sign the paperwork on the baby when he/she is placed in our custody. And their fees scale is a sliding scale based on our income, which is lovely. Plus, there's an max on the amount we can pay for bmom's living expenses in our state, and those fees are strictly controlled through our agency, who verifies all charges. When everything is finalized, we have a small attorney's fee to pay - we're using the agency's lawyer. His feels are usually $2K or less.

We have family who have offered to loan money, we are in a small town where our bank will give us a personal short-term note. Many banks now do offer adoption loans or home equity loans. And there is now a $10,000 adoption tax credit to take advantage of.

We've been pleased to learn that this domestic adoption should end up being less expensive than we've budgeted for! We were afraid of the fees associated with some international adoptions (they're not well-estimated, or you run into problems which cause much more legal or travel costs), so we chose domestic instead. So far, we're very glad.

Please let me know if you have more questions about our particular situation. You can send me a private message, if needed.

I'll try to write later about how we coped w/ the process and all the hurry up and waiting we all have to do!

StorkWatcher

[akcskye]

I hope this isn't a dumb question/statement, but I thought I understood that the adoption tax credit only applied to special needs adoption?
Or was it that it applied to every adoption in the US, but not the adoption of a child out of the US?
Can someone clarify that for me?
Thanks.
Kristi

[kimmybee]

Well from my limited knowledge it applies to any adoption. I could be totally wrong. We are adopting from outside the us and we were planning on using this. My social worker said it applied to us. better check into this. Also look into grants, loans, some agencies put a grant on a child that is called a waiting child, usually a bit older or special needs. Go where your heart is. There are options. We are taking a home equity loan on our home as well as some friends of our that are adopting. Sometimes your job or dh will have a special program. do a google search for adoption grants. A lot to sift through but well worth the time in education. My home study was 1200, I had to put 500 in right away for the agency and now owe 2100 in the next few days. I was surprised at all the other fees in collecting documents. But we are adopting from another country so it's probably different. Good luck, oh the intrusive questions, a bit daunting, just tell all and don't think about it. I'm not a private person by nature but it was weird for me. I just did it without dwelling on it. good luck.

[BuckarooBanzai]

We (especially me) had a hard time getting through the paperwork the first time. The only time I gave up that much information was to get a high level DOD clearence. I have come to the conclusion that if everyone had to do this to have a kid, there would be a lot less kids in this world.

We have been thru the process twice with 2 different agencies. The fees were pay as we went and came to about $1,500 to get to Certification. The second was cheaper since we got recertified.

We kept on our CWs to make sure that they did not drag their feet and kept the timelines as short as possible. Make sure you know what the timelines are for your State and hold your CW to them. There is a lot of wait time, just don't think about it and take each day as it comes. The end result is worth the wait.

If it helps you, we got placement of our first son in 14 months from when we started with that agency. The second time was 8 months. Both were infants and were placed with us within 24 hours of birth.

BTW, we just found out that our current Certification got extended by the Court last Friday. Now were are looking for number 3.

[chrisandaaron]

We are working with a small local agency, but here is what we paid upfront.

An adoption class (not required, but very helpful) ~$50 - $100

Application fee $200

Homestudy fee ~$1000

Fire inspection/finger prints/physicals (less than) $100 total

We won't have to pay anything else until we are placed with a child. However, most agencies do expect you to pay any bmom expenses at the time you are matched or as the expenses come up (regardless of the outcome).

After the placement we will pay the remaining fees and post placement visits.

As for financial help, check with your employer to see if they have any adoption assistance. I didn't have any luck with other grants, but it may be worth a try if you are bored during the wait time (or are adopting a special needs child).

The adoption tax credit applies to all domestic adoptions (except step parent adoptions). I'm not sure about international, but I think it includes those too.

I don't have any suggestions on dealing with the rest. I just go busy and got all my paperwork done as quick as possible. Then it is just a matter of trying to keep busy while waiting.

Hope that helps!
Chris

[SadieAnn]

We did a domestic newborn adoption through an agency. We paid $250 for a consultation and then $1500 for our homestudy. Then after we were matched we started to put funds into an Escrow acct managed by agency for bmom expenses. Then finally after placement we paid an agency fee. I would be concerned if I was paying large amounts up front.

FYI - Our first placement failed but we were still able to use the adoption tax credit. BUT then we couldn't reuse it when we were adopted our son just months later. But MANY people don't know it can be used on a failed match/placement.

[Dee1234]

So far we have paid $3,500 to our agency, which included $1,500 for the home study. The rest of the money was for our application fee, foster license costs and administrative service fee. Total costs to adopt through our agency are around $10,000.

In addition, we have spent approximately $1,000 on our own advertising, both online and in newspapers.

Hope this helps. Good luck with the adoption process. I know how difficult the wait can be and hope yours is a short one.

[melren7]

Thank you so much everybody for all the encouragement and info. A lot of the fees seem pretty much the same as what we are paying for our agency. We are so scared we will have to wait years to get placed with a child, but it is encouraging to hear about how fast it happened for some of you guys. Did you guys just adopt out of the state you lived in or did you put in to adopt out of any state in the US? My husband and I don't know what to do about that whole thing, bc I have heard that it can take longer if you go just through your state, but then I have heard the laws are all so different from in other states....I don't know which is the better way. Thanks again guys for all your help and encouragement! IT was much needed!

melren