[Jeskarose]

My husband and I would like to adopt from Africa....however we have a HUGE problem! The cost is just way too high for us. My husband is in the military and I'm a stay at home mom so money is already tight.

We'd REALLY love to bring home an older child that needs a loving family. I was wondering how everyone affords to adopt?? I mean, I've heard of some people raising money through fundraising....others take out loans. What do you all do???

We're worried we won't be able to adopt because of the cost. Any help or info would be wonderful!

Sincerely,
Jessica

[reb621]

Jessica,
There is a military grant (for full-time military personnel). It's "DD Form 2673."

I don't know where you would find this form, but I'm sure your husband knows who the person is who handles these types of questions. And it USED to be $2,000 for one child, $5,000 for siblings, but it may have gone up. Plus, you can get state reimbursement as well as Federal reimbursement for non-recurring expenses (attorney fees, agency fees, travel, etc.).

Good luck!
Rebecca

[RenaPCruz]

Hi!

We are adopting from the Philippines and my husband is an Active Military (Navy).

We applied for a loan since we decided to adopt.

I got the website for Form 2675 Reimbursement for Adoption Expense. You can only apply this after you finalized the adoption.

http://www.dior.whs.mil/forms/DD2675.PDF

I don't know any other way we can make this adoption happen, only because of the loan.

Hope this help you.

[FamilyBound]

Outside of loans or grants, you can also do some things to make 'a little extra money', like having garage sales or sell things like Mary Kay or Pampered Chef. My friend does monthly garage sales and collects items from members of her church who donate them to her for her adoption expenses and she's getting there!

Fortunately with adoption you don't need all the money right up front. You can do a little at a time like the homestudy and INS stuff, and then months (or a couple of years depending on how fast Africa works - I have no idea) before the rest of the money would be needed.

Good luck to you!

[JSkaarup]

My husband is military and I am also a stay-at-home mom (plus a full-time student). We are going to adopt with "Americans for African Adoptions", hopefully Ethiopia. We are going to have to take out a loan for the adoption, and pay it down any way we can (taxes, reimbursement, etc.) Garage Sales are a good idea to raise some money.....military spouses are always looking for ways to cus on costs, especially buying baby items (at least I know I was). Good Luck!!

[olo]

Hi,

I know EXACTLY how you feel - its very hard to come up with so much money, its hard even imagining you ever will, no matter how many car washes, yard sales, part time jobs, etc...

I am working full-time, my husband works full-time, yard selling, asking friends and family to help, these are all things I've seen to do on forums such as these and as well on adoption agency sites and we try but its slow going that's for sure.

I don't know about the rest of you but my family is not in the financial position to hand over $20k, our yard sale pulled in $58, I just don't have anything to sell - I don't have an over abundance of things, as for car washes - every weekend there are kids on every block doing a car wash for a trip or something, I don't want to compete with them for money, car washes are their thing, that's what they do to raise the money they need.

We've applied for a loan but we've been told "not yet" because my husband, who is English has only been in the country for 4 years and his credit isn't such yet that a bank will loan us the money, although they loaned us money for cars, houses, etc... he has good credit?? 've never made enough money or had enough credit to warrant a $10,000+ personal loan.

Does this mean we wouldn't be great parents? Because we don't have family who can fork over thousands? Because we don't have a surplus of junk to sell at a garage sale? Because we'd rather not compete with the teenagers washing cars? Because I can't obtain a $10,000 personal loan and my husband who is a good wage earner with excellent credit hasn't been in the US long enough to obtain a $10,000 loan either? because we are new to our area and haven't met any rich or influential people, because our church is a small church and already is over extended supporting some members?

Gosh, I could go on and on... we've tried to be "creative", we've asked my husband's company for help, they're not interested

Everyone says to be "creative" so being a web designer I've made a site asking for donations, I made a post yesterday to this board about it and it looks like it was removed - why???? Why would a post asking for donations, from others who are experiencing or have experienced the very same issues, be removed? I am not stealing, I am not lying, cheating, ripping off.... read our website, you'll see.

I've offered my personal home telephone number to anyone who doubts our true intentions, I leave my Yahoo Messenger up and running when ever I am online in case anyone wants to ask me anything and I am also offering a 2 page website designed to anyone who donates over $50 (I normally charge $300+ for this service).

So if all of this isn't bad enough, when you feel that there's no way you'll be able to help a child because the fee's are so high you're told to be "creative" and when I attempt to be creative yet one of my efforts at being "creative" is squelched by a forum dedicated solely to adoption.

Where else am I to find people who are like minded, who are going through or have been through what I am and who know exactly how hard it can be for some of us?

My website is just the tip of the ice berg, I am doing all I can, I am going without, its hot in my house to save on the a/c bill, I don't have any new clothes, we eat cheap as we can eat, we don't go out, we're not having a vacation - its all about saving!!!!

I thought those who have adopted would be the very people who would understand the challenges, I assumed they would be the very people to ask to help - what a $1, $5, $10??? If this was 2-3 years down the road and I had already adopted and I saw a page like mine, sure I might contact them but once I felt comfortable that they were for real you bet I would send whatever I could, even if it were just $5 - because $5 is better than nothing - its better than saying "who do they think they are? I had to work so hard for my money or I am still paying back my loan or on and on...."

I wouldn't react that way because I wouldn't be thinking of myself - I'd be thinking about the child and remembering the difficulty we had, I would feel honored to be able to help in any small way that I could.

To the original poster of this thread - I wish you all the luck in the world, know that you are not alone in your feelings and if this were the future and I weren't going through the same thing you are at the moment I would gladly do my best to help you - in the mean time if you just need someone to talk to to vent with please feel free to email me.

See my profile for email/web address :-)

[tobeafamily]

We too were a military family. Please keep in mind that the funds mentioned above are upon finalization - $2000 reimbursment before taxes, $5,000 for two children. We adopted through domestic parental placement - ended up costing about $14,000 though our largest single outlay was $3,000 for attorney fees.

Anyhow, here are some of the things we did:

1. Asked our friends and family to give gifts to a 'baby fund' in lieu of Christmas and birthday gifts for us. This got a great reception, with people making periodic 'just because' gifts to the fund too.

2. We did look at our budgets and figured out what we could curtail - didn't give up everything but did stop taking SCUBA dive trips for a while and ate at less expensive restaurants.

3. Cleaned out our closets and had some garage sales. We had friends who also 'donated' stuff for us to sell.

4. Sold stuff on eBay - books on tape, some collectibles that were gathering dust, etc. We were amazed at what you can sell on eBay.

Hope this helps.

Regina, AMom to Ryan Joshua Thomas