[TamRob1996]

Hi there.
I'm wondering if someone can tell me how paying for an adoption works. Should we have all the money up front or can we pay as we go?
Thanks.
Tammy

[ourdreamcametru]

We did an independent simi open adoption and were able to pay as we went. We had the first part of our adoption homestudy before the baby was born and paid for it then. We paid for certain court cost in the beginning and then were told that we just had to have the attorney paid off by the time we finalized the adoption when the baby was 6 months old. Our total adoption was less than $6000 total cost. Hope this helps.

Kelley

[stephdpenn]

Tammy, are you looking into domestic or international adoption?

We are adopting from China if you are interested in that then I would be happy to provide you with more details.

Stephanie

[TamRob1996]

Thank you for your replies. It really helps.
Stephanie- We are looking into International adoptions, so any info would be great. Thanks!

[randloar]

We are going the intl route (Kazakhstan) and during our research saw that the timing for payments varied by agency. We pretty much ignored (stopped looking into) the agencies that wanted large sums of money before they would answer questions, or wanted lots of money at signing. We just plain werent comfortable with that (personal choice) and eliminated countries and agencies that didn't fit that criteria.

For our agency, we paid our application fee ($200) up front, then our agency fee and refundable post placement report hold fee when we submitted our dossier ($2000 +$2000). That is all we have paid so far (not counting our homestudy, but that is from a separate agency). Basically, we are paying as we go. When we clear and are about to travel, we will pay the other fees (child placement and intl fee). Then we take with us our incountry fees.

Several people have posted from one agency (or umbrella type agency) that have paid their entire fee up front at signing (~25-30,000)!! These people are VERY stressed and haven't gotten to travel and have been in the process as long as we have (just over a year), and I can't imagine the extra stress that causes!!! Upfront or paying as you go, its up to you and you can pick an agency that has the same attitude as you do, they are out there!!