[claricey]

Hi everyone!

DH and I are hoping to sign with an agency within the next few weeks. As we are comparing costs, I was wondering if anyone had a spreadsheet or a check list of the known costs for Russian adoption regardless of which agency you go with.

I have one started but it's a bit of a mess and I could use some help!

I apologize if this type of thing is already posted somewhere but I'm just learning how to navigate this board.

Thanks in advance for any help you can lend!

Claricey

[Kasey]

Here is our deal so far:
1.)homestudy: 900
2.)agency fee: 3800
3.) notory cost: 0 (woman at DH's work does it for free)
4.)appostilling costs (in PA, $15/document): we have to compile 2 dossiers, so fr our total has been $1200
5.) Russian registration: 1000 (we have to prepay ahead of time and then we get back 850)
6.) money at time of referral: 7500
7.) for trip 2 (foreign fee): 7000
8.) money in country (for coord/translator,etc..)230/day
9.) airfare, looking anywhere from 1500-3500
10.) hotel in Moscow, 200-400 night for a Marriott.
11.) visas 1200

last time around in 2004 was spent 31k, we are anticipating 35K+ this time around.

[SingleMama2B]

Congrats on starting your Journey of a Lifetime!!!

The total costs for me where $32K in January 2005 (adoption complete). It would have been closer to $35K, but very good friends gave me their Marriott Points, and I stayed both trips for free Keep in mind, I also got last minute notice 4 days notice to travel to Moscow the week of CHRISTMAS, and had to pay $2,000 for one round-trip tix economy!!! With enough notice, you will spend about $600+ per round trip ticket!!!

Blessings................

[Butabzig]

This was something that would have been a HUGE help to DH and I when we got into the process. The agency tries their best to tell you but we found many more things that we weren't expecting. Maybe it would be helpful if everyone could post things they had to pay for. I encourage others to add, subtract, edit in any way. I won't put a dollar figure because it really can vary. In the end for us however, we found many things we hadn't taken into account that we would need to pay for.

Homestudy
INS fees
Agency Fee
International Fee
Mailings
Certifications
Authentications (this one REALLY added up!)
Reports
Education
Hotel/apartment for two trips
Meals in country
Airfare (two trips, one way return ticket 2nd trip for child)
Passport (if you don't have one)
Passport for child (if not included in agency fee)
Visas (for two trips...cost depends on length of notice to travel)
Medical exams that are often not covered by insurance
Medical exam of child beyond Embassy requirements (ie: the Embassy required us to have additional blood work for our little one before giving her a visa)
Gifts
Post placement exams/reports (may be included in agency fee)
Travel insurance (personal choice)

I haven't included the non-paid hours upon hours of your personal time, some which may require time off from work or vacation time needed to travel. I think that part is just getting you ready for what's about to come home with you.

I hope this is helpful and that others will chime in.

[Abdulina]

There are so many varibles in everyone's adoptions. Airfare is a killer for ALL of us right now doing adoptions. Horrific. On average, I'd say most people are now spending around $35K for an infant. I can't relate b/c we've never done an infant adoption as of yet. I put their ages at time of adoption in parenthesis. Here's what we have spent though:

Irina(6) and Max(4)-- $20K for both-- everything included
Yana(8) and Alex(3)-- $28K for both-- everything included
Bojan(6)-- $12K for him--- everything included

Next child in process right now (not an infant)-- guesstimating costs of $12K to $17K depending upon airfare.

Child after that (infant)-- $5K total, everything included.

So as you can see, prices vary. Mine that have already been adopted were older. That makes a huge difference. Also, definitely cheaper to do 2 at once than one at once typically. Good luck. Plan for the worst as far as costs go and hope for the best. That way, no suprises.

Good luck,

[drazil65]

Ours, in 2004, was just under $32,000. One thing we looked closely at was how much of the work does your agency do for you? We did not have to do any of the apostilling, registration was included and done for us, visa's were all taken care of for us, we had a private car, translator and driver in St. Petes and then again in Moscow (with our agency it was one car per family so we could sight see whenever we wanted to in between baby home visits), all hotel and transportation in country (ie: train to Moscow for embassy appt.) was taken care of for us. Our agency also put our entire dossier together (including some notarizing and all apostilling and we were not in the same state as our agency). For us our time was worth alot of money especially with the job I had at the time and it took so much off of our shoulders. So we looked at alot more than just the fees, it was so worth it for us, the best of luck in your journey.

[beckyww]

About $32K for Julia, age 6, from St. Pete.

Becky
www.woodworthfamily.blogdrive.com

[FloridaJewel]

A couple other expenses we've incurred for this adoption:
-appraisal on home
-psychiatrist exam
-lab work for medicals (part pd. by insurance)
-currently dealing w/our CPA who wants $700 for a "compilation report" to verify our assets

[claricey]

Just wanted to say that I thank each and every one of you. This is exactly the info I was looking for.

Your input is so helpful...I am so grateful to have found such a great group of people to share this experience with!

Claricey

[Amysue1112]

Congrats on getting started!
Here are some things you will have to take into consideration.....we planned on spending 30-35k and ended up spending 43k.
1) If you have a long wait (dossier in country more than one year) you have to re-do pretty much ALL the paperwork, so those costs can be doubled (or more in some people's cases).
2) Time of year for travel....flights and hotels are VERY different depending on time of year, events etc. We were not took concerned until Trip 2 where we could not find a hotel in Moscow for less than 400/night (that was in April). We ended up staying in a nice apt for much cheaper (which I highly recommend) for 185/night
3)every agency has different in-country costs
4)There are ALWAYS things you didn't think of, know about, or things that were not even required at the time you stared....well, that is how it was for us anyway.
5) Flight costs r/t gas prices...Lord only knows!

BTW...this is a GREAT place! We even met some families from this forum in Moscow on Trip 1 (we met for dinner)..These people will become dear friends and a great place for a wealth of info and support!

Good luck!

[hadams]

OK...this looks a lot better in my spreadsheet than it does here...and this is already very old information.

In upper case letters is the payee (Agency, or C/RUS if it was cash we brought with us to Russia and paid over there).

Then there are two dollar amounts. One represents our adoption process in 2001, and the other our second adoption in 2004.

Hope this helps!

AGENCY Homestudy Application $250.00 $250.00
AGENCY Homestudy $1,800.00 $2,000.00
AGENCY Program Application $1,000.00 $1,500.00
AGENCY Program Fee $6,600.00 $8,100.00
INS INS Fee $405.00 $460.00
AGENCY Fingerprinting $100.00 $100.00
STATE State of Wisconsin Fee $75.00 $75.00
STATE State cert of documents $210.00 $250.00
OTHER Russian Visas $250.00 $898.00
OTHER Postage, Fed Ex, Etc $87.50 $112.75
AGENCY Post Placement $850.00 $1,500.00
RUSSIA Registration of Passport $55.00 $40.00
OTHER Airfare $1,500.00 $7,689.80
OTHER Gifts, wrapping etc $85.00 $150.00
C/RUS Lodging $880.00 $2,041.48
C/RUS Food $100.00 $250.00
C/RUS Ground Transportation $1,700.00 $1,000.00
C/RUS Visa Registration $100.00 $120.00
C/RUS Child's Air Ticket $100.00 $-
C/RUS Parent's Air Ticket $300.00 $-
C/RUS Adopt proc fees, Russia $350.00 $800.00
C/RUS Orphanage donation $1,000.00 $1,000.00
C/RUS Assistants in Moscow $250.00 $240.00
C/RUS Translator fees $250.00 $285.00
C/RUS Child's visa exam $100.00 $85.00
C/RUS Embassy charges $325.00 $335.00
C/RUS Miscellaneous $200.00
C/RUS Child Preparation $700.00
TOTALS $18,722.50 $29,482.03

[angelkisses0102]

In 2002, for DD it was $35,000...probably a little more but that was the main costs. Her region required more time in region so that added to our costs.

In 2004 for DS, it was about $32,000 BUT we did not pay for hotels on either trip other than 2 nights at $165...the rest were Marriott Reward points...so that saved us a bunch. We also upgraded to business class when offered a great deal at the airport...that was an additional $1000.

There are so many variables...and remember Moscow is now the most expensive city in the world. Also I believe the value of the dollar has declined? Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that.

[Teri M]

We kept a spreadsheet of everything from Paperclips to postage....everything here in the states and when we went to Russia on 2 trips.

The whole thing including consulate registration when we returned - 41,375.98 - how's that for detailed

We did side by side comparisons of several agencies before we signed. We looked at Cradle of hope, Gladney, Frank, EAC, CAI, SWAF, and put their amounts side by side (all had different charges for different things) but in the end we choose Cradle of Hope because when we got their paperwork/folder it had a waiting child letter and our son was on it. Cradle wasn't the cheapest but there was only about 2k difference from the others....we are very happy with our son!! He is perfect and healthy and naughty

Good luck

[mjkkbbr]

I kept track of most items. We received points for our court trip airfare. Our total expenses were about $33,000We adopted an 8 year old from Ivanovo.

[Shark01]

I think budgeting for $35k is about right. Remember about the $10,000 tax credit.