[f86sabjf]

This is the wife...

We have been looking into Guatemala or China to adopt a child. We are NOT affluent and really don't want to go into MASSIVE debt. We do believe that the child IS worth it but we would not be able to pay the monthly payments if we took out loans etc. We have heard of companies that give grants. We are aware of the tax credit but you have to have the $$ first! I have just been hired as a teacher so I will be investigating my state's/county's benefits. We have read here that people have yard sales, donations, etc.

My husband is a skeptic and the large $$ amount for Guatemala (Which is where he seems to want to adopt from) is discouraging him. I figured that y'all would have an idea of how to finance an adoption and if it really worked.

He got the idea from "Adoption Stories" on the health channel. ALL the families "seem" to have money (look at the houses etc). He is starting to get dircouraged even though I've told him of the web sites of grants & such. "How often do they really give them out? Who says we'll get one." etc.

So, has anyone had a good portion of their adoption paid by grants & help?

Thanks for your input and advice!
Fran

[drewnsam]

I will send you a PM with tons of info on fundraising and other goodies.

Sam

[katcn]

Have you requested information from any of the international adoption agencies yet? We are in the process of selecting an agency and almost every information packet we have received so far has finacial aid information. Here are some suggestions from those we have got so far:
The National Adoption Foundation 203.791.3811
A Child Waits Foundation
www.childadoptionfunds.org
Try looking on some of the International Adoption agencies web pages too. They usually include this information. Also, www.fwcc.org might have some information on their web site.

I hope everything works out for you.

[kimber413]

Unfortunately it does take a sizable amount of money to adopt internationally, and Guatamala is one of the most expensive places to adopt from. Fees alone with some agencies range in the mid $20,000+. Top that off with documentation fees and travel, and the cost can skyrocket. You might have better luck with another country. Colombia, for example, is far less expensive. Have you thought of domestic adoption? I can be less expensive as well.

Another means of raising the money is to refinance your house and take a bit of equity from it. I've heard of others having yard sales and such, but you have a large amount of money to save, and it might take an awful lot of yard sales.

Good luck to you.

[generalmar]

I too am of middle income and wanting so badly to adopt a daughter. We were specifically interested in Russia or Ukraine (if anyone has any input on agencies or orphanages...I would greatly appreciate your advice).

I have been trying to locate information on grants, but can't seem to find much on parents LOOKING to adopt. The grants I find are all geared for the mother looking to put the baby up for adoption.

I also have two biological boys aged 7 and almost 5. I understand you desire to adopt while your daughter is still young. Understand the benefit is that they will be raised close in age. The difference in appearance I believe will be unimportant. My boys want more siblings in the worst way! They would embrace any child in their life, but one closer in age would make them even closer!

I applaude you for looking into adoption while you deal with sleepless nights of a 4 month old. You are obviously parents who will always seek what is best for their children. Good luck!
-Marianne

[petersonsuri]

I am adopting from Bulgaria and I am being charged less than $10,000 (agency and bulgaria fees). Travel is not included but cost of living is a lot less than russia. Hotels about $50 per night and food less than $30 per day.

Mary

[shastafire]

An agency that I contacted, with regards to the Columbia program, referred me to start the Guatemalan program - she explained that the Columbia program will cost just as much - despite the lower country fees, because the time spent over there (4+weeks) will cause you to spend a lot of $$$ to take daily care of yourself - food, lodging, transportation, etc.

She said that the Guatemalan program has higher "country fees" but that because the stay is only 3 days and airfare is considerably less than other programs (European) we will equal out to about the same amount....She said a large downfall of the program is that with Guatemala - you may get referred to an infant immediately - only to wait 8-12 months to travel.

What are all of your thoughts? And, can someone PM me the info. on fundraising? DH is discouraged about adopting from Guatemala b/c of the fees too...We are getting ready to sell our house and buy another (with more room) but we will only make out with about $5,000 or LESS...we will do some fundraisers (yard sale/bake sale/ jewelry sale) but we need to come up with something else

Thanks,
Angela

[f86sabjf]

Our situation is this...We have no kids and have been married over 10 years. I am changing jobs to a better job now but we have a VERY large credit card to pay off and a car loan. We won't have equity in our home due to the fact we just bought it less than 2 years ago. This is why I was wondering if fund raisers (car washes, candy sales, letters, etc) really brought in a good portion of the funds or if its just a couple of hundred here and there. I heard that grants are hard to get too.

We want an infant girl but can't travel more than 2 weeks to see/pick her up. My husband can't take that much time off. It can be 2 trips as long as it falls under that 2 week time frame. We have compared Colombia, Guatemala, China, Ukrane and many others. The countries that fall under our "boundaries" are China, Guatemala, Taiwan and India (So far). Most of the total costs after travel expenses and estimates on living expenses there are between $17,000-$30,000. We just don't have that kind of money laying around or can get it within a year or less. We are aware of the tax credit (that is after you come up with the money first!) and my new job might reimburse us for some of the costs (reimburse!!). I AM happy but it might take years to come up with that kind of money. We believe that God can handle it..We just want to do this now! Can you tell I'm impatient??

Any tips would be beneficial and thanks to those who emailed us back!

Fran

[Colorbind love]

Have you looked into the African programs? Ethiopia adoptions run about $8-$9K total cost and the children can be escorted home. Sierra Leone and Liberia are comparable and again the children can be escorted home. While the process is slow in Sierra Leone right now (and at a stand-still in Liberia temporarily), its very expediated in Ethiopia at the moment. I've heard its taking about 4-6 months to get children home from Ethiopia at the moment. (It was 12-15 months when my parents adopted 4 years ago so its gotten quite a big quicker in the last couple of years.)

[mel452]

I posted this information on another thread but would like to share this with others. I cannot give "financial advice" but I can help by recommending books, etc. I'm in the financial industry.

I find many people can save a lot of $$$ by adjusting their lifestyle. It's amazing what you can save when you analyze your daily activites. I recommend the following books to help people with their finances and saving for adoption/school/college (remember the initial adoption costs are just the beginning!)

Suze Orman and David Bach have the best books. I recommend Smart Couples finish Rich and Automatic Millionaire by David Bach. These books won't make you rich or a millionaire but they will assist you in adjusting your lifestyle to saving. I also recommend any Suze Orman books as well. Buy them at Costco or someplace cheap!!!!

It's expensive to adopt. It's about as expensive as buying a car. We did a refi and have hefty savings (thanks to good jobs and a great SoCal real estate market). I'm not too keen on fundraising because I feel that if I can't afford to adopt, how can I afford to raise the child. We cut out spending, bring our lunches to work, carpool and have been able to save quite a bit each month.

Remember, the fees aren't all payable at once so you can spread out the payments over several months. I recommend saving as much as you possibly can each week. No dining out, no coffee at Starbucks, etc. You'd be surprised how much you can save.

I hope everyone finds a way to afford adoption. It's good for the child and great for the family. Everyone deserves to be able to adopt their child.

Best of luck

[shastafire]

"I'm not too keen on fundraising because I feel that if I can't afford to adopt, how can I afford to raise the child. "

I actually hear this quite a bit....

In a better world we would ALL be able to toss out the 10-30K and not think twice about it. In reality, coming up with that amount of cash within ONE year - is NOT easy to do. Not for those of us that are middle income! For some of us - the 30K is what we make in a YEAR (and yet, we are expected to hand it all over so that we can bring a deserving, needy child into our lives - to give them a warm, loving family!)....

Just because we can not hand over that amount of cash - is no reflection of whether or not we can afford the daily expenses of child rearing - we can find ways, cut corners, to meet the expenses of living; that is, until we are asked to pay that amount of money.

I hope I don't step on anyone's toes I don't intend to...just get a little....vocal? when I hear that

Be well...

Angela

[qs mom]

I adopted my son from Bulgaria last year for about $20,000. And they costs scared me also.

I found my saving grace to be 'disposable vehicles'. My brother-in-law finds a good running, safe car and I buy it. I usually get one for under about $1500. I've been very lucky. Everyone that I've bought has lasted a little over a year. That's alot less than making car payments of $200-$300 a month.

But, I digress, as they say. You will find that alot of the expenses come from little things, that you can probably squeeze into your weekly expenses if you cut back a little that week. Your big expenses are the adoption/country fees, homestudy, BCIS and travel. The rest come as $20-$50 as a time - getting a document, notarizing, certifying, appostilling, overnight charges, etc.

If you are close to the adoption/country fees, you can probably swing it. Put away what you can. Fully bank your tax refund. Brown bag it, skip dinners out, skip movies, suspend club memberships, kill cable 'extras' like HBO, etc, kill phone 'extras' like caller id, call forwarding, etc. cancel your cell phone , get a prepaid and use it for emergencies only. You get the picture. You'd be amazed at what these 'little' things add up to.

If your husband is an analytical man, crunch the numbers on this little cutbacks, and maybe he'll see that you'll be able to make it.

[kim532]

My dh is interested in the Guatemala program also and we do agree with the statement that the higher program fee is easily made up for by the lower travel costs.

We went to an info meeting the other day for an agency, and they made the statement that you should never let money stand in your way for the adoption. They said they would work with you to help find the money and had a program where they would loan you money that you would then pay back when you received your tax credit.

My advice would be to talk with the agency you are most wanting to work with and see if they can help.

[AlabamaDad2Be]

Originally posted by drewnsam
I will send you a PM with tons of info on fundraising and other goodies.

Sam

Will you send that to me too?

[KKB227]

I will send you a PM with tons of info on fundraising and other goodies.

Could you send this to me as well. Thank you