[nolasmom]

Hello everyone! My husband and I are just getting started with gathering information to adopt. I have many questions and would appreciate any support/information. Our biggest concern is how we are going to afford adoption. We are interested in domestic infant adoption at this time. Thanks so much in advance for the help.

[Bnoll]

Hi there and welcome to these forums!

When my husband and I begun researching adoption, we were overwhelmed with the cost of adoption and really had to idea how we were going to afford it. Luckily we found some great resources that I'd be happy to PM you with. Here's a list of ideas for financing:

1) Withdraw from your 401k
2) Draw on your home equity
3) Adoption loans/credit cards
4) Grants
5) Fundraising (garage sales, bake sales, etc)
6) Taking on a second job

We had little equity in our home so option 2 was out. Our 401k wasn't that big either. We ended up financing a large part of our adoption with adoption specific lines of credit (much lower interest rates). Although not the most wonderful way, we were able to afford it and brought our baby home just a few months ago. Good luck on your journey!!!!

[SuzySSunshine]

I would suggest that you plan an adoption that costs no more than your personal savings (NOT 401K!)

Depending on the amount you have saved, this could mean finding a low cost or not cost approach like foster adoption or it could mean spending more time saving before you begin.

Going into debt to become a parent (a very expensive prospect in and of itself) is not something I would recommend. But with a goal like adoption in mind, you may be astounded at how easy it is to save more money and a part time job would dramatically shorted the time required to gather your funds!

[Bnoll]

As I said, adoption loans are not ideal. However, one must keep in mind the adoption tax credit for over $12,000 as well as possible employer reimbursement and some states provide state adoption tax credits. When paid back quickly, these loans are not a burden.

I agree that using savings to adopt is a better proposition. However if you've spent tens of thousands of dollars on infertility treatments, you probably don't have $25,000 saved up for an adoption. Just a thought.

[purpleshamrock]

Bnoll, I sent you an email regarding any specific info you may have on the loans and credit cards.

Thanks for any info you can share!

Erin

[sheababy]

Bnoll has it pretty well covered here. We ended up doing a home equity loan and are now at close to a 100% loan to value with the market drop but we're not planning on selling anytime soon-we took that into account before hand.

Which ever way you go, consider the worst case scenario and have a back up plan. How will you repay a loan if you lose your job etc.

For us, we knew we would have to put DD in daycare. So we started taking the $250 per week we would spend on daycare and putting it into savings. Had the process taken 2 years, we would have been set but DD came along after only 11 months so the home equity loan was our backup for that plan.