[lagnape]

Hello all! One of the agencies that my husband and I are considering for our adoption has quoted a foreign program fee of $17,000; this fee is to cover court fees, adoption decree, child's birth certificate and passport. Is this fee typical for Guatemala or do the agencies set them? Thanks for all the information in advance!
Jeanna

[becky]

Jeanna,

That is very typical....the Guatemalan attorney fee usually runs from $16,000-$18,000 for an infant.

You also have agency fees on top of that, which can range from $3000-$6000.

A typical Guatemalan adoption will cost close to $25,000 when all is said and done.

Good Luck,

Becky

[TRBenson]

Sounds pretty accurate to me too. Through our agency, to get a boy was $16K and to get a girl was $17.2K

Expensive, I know. But that's the price we pay to have attorney's working our case, versus just the government and orphanages.

Tammy

[Bassette]

Typical fee, I'm afraid. But well worth it don't you think? With all fees including homestudy, INS form fees, agency fees, program fees, misc,...we were told to expect to pay around $25,000. Upon two years of research I have realized this is the typical fee, provided you watch the small stuff. All the form fees, travel and costs to obtain documents can add up so be careful and consolidate when possible. If you end up sending packages to your infant while in foster care, you can fairly easily find a family to carry the package for you on Yahoo's big list. This will cut down on shipping costs. Good Luck to you!

[crathke]

We paid $17K for our foreign fees, too; I just did a workup on total costs (for next year's taxes and the $10K adoption tax credit) and with travel, etc, we came in at $29,051 (and eighty cents). Save your receipts!

Courtney
Bio mom to Nick, age 7 and Aaron, age 2--home from Guatemala on 1/16/03

[khnath]

Our program is $15,500 and our agency fee was about 6,000. I think the total will work out to be around 23,000-25,000 once we pay the fee for DNA and Embassy and our travel. $25,000 seems to be the average total cost.