[mrmotivation]

Hey everyone -

I have read all over the internet about the costs associated with adopting a child from Russia (which is what we plan to do). I can't seem to find how much it costs approximately to adopt two children from Russia. We have decided that if we are going to go through all the work and travel to Russia, then we will go after two children.

If any of you have any information about the costs of adopting two Russian children at once, it would greatly be appreciated.


Thanks!

[Ktates]

There are many agencies that don't allow the adoption of two unrelated children at once (just so you know as if you wait for biological siblings this could increase your wait time).

Most of the figures I have seen for people who are adopting two children at once are usually 50-60k (usually 20-25k more for a second child)...

There are quite a few on the board who have done it so I'm sure they can give you their real cost...

[beckyww]

We went for one six-year-old in 2006, however, we were approved for two (would have had to have been bio), and were told the cost was about $5K - $10K more. As it was, our total costs to adopt Julia were $32K.

Becky
Adoption.com - Information on International, Domestic, Child & Agency Adoptions, Stories, Laws -

[another2]

It depends on the agency and where in Russia you adopt from (due to travel costs and whether you have to stay the extra 10 days), and sometimes the age of the children. As you can see, we have adopted two unrelated infants at the same time twice. Our last adoption, coming home 12/24/05, we spent an all-inclusive total of $55,000.

[votemom]

we adopted two unrelated 23 month old girls this past july. we did three trips. summer is much more costly when it comes to hotels/airfare. we kept a budget of every incidental cost, down to taxis and crapdogs in moscow ;o)

i'd rather not post our exact figures here but ktates post is pretty close.

it sounds terrible, but then you figure what some people will pay for a car...!

i wish you much success as you begin your journey. it's not an easy road.... but the precious life of a child (or two!) is worth it.

[randloar]

1 year ago this coming Saturday we had court to adopt our two unrelated kiddos in Moscow City. What we found out was that with a given agnecy, fees can be differenct for each region (different incountry crew), just an fyi. Some regions and crews do have a break in cost for two (even unrelated) as their workload is lower in general, even though there are paperwork/payments that are doubled since they are not bio (

For us, our chance to get to our kiddos quickly (before the accredidations expired last March) was to go to our agencies region that did have the higher fees (Moscow), so we played out the cost differences decided it was worth it (since we had already been waiting for so long, we couldn't bear to take the chance to wait till after the reaccredidation mess that no one knew how big/small it would be). The cost difference in fees alone was 15K more than if we had gone to one of the other regions, not to mention spending about 4 weeks total in the city of Moscow (VERY expensive). So, our total was right around that upper end people have thrown out, at 60k (including everything, start to finish). SO, if you find an agency/region that does give the break for two, you may be safe to assume between 10-15 less than our total......

Lets just say its a good thing that toddlers love mac-n-cheese as that is what we can afford for awhile!!!

AND, If you don't know about the tax credit, for two kiddos its right around 23k you 'can' get back from the feds over a 5 year period (we are counting on this to help us break out of the mac-n-cheese habit!). How it works is, if you typically have a tax liability each year (ie, you do owe uncle sam money at the end of figuring out your taxes), then you will get that amount back (up to the 23k total).......if not, this 'credit' won't do you much good, so don't fall into the trap of thinking you get a 23k check from the feds the year after your adoption is complete.........thats not going to happen!

[Jessi_76]

Hi mr. m,

We are adopting two children from Russia as well. We are currently in our "waiting for referral" stage. We will be staying the 10 days during the waiting period which of course does add to the cost.

Our best estimates to date for the adoption of both children (they are unrelated, so it is possible - do your homework!) is about $65,000 all-inclusive including travel. We do not forsee that it will come in more than $70,000 and there's not a chance it will be less than $55,000. It really all depends on the in-country costs!

Good luck to your family in this wonderful journey!
Jessi

[GCS]

We adopted 2 unrelated children in 2004 so our costs would not be comparable to what it costs today (the dollar is so low and this makes a big difference!).

The big savings in adopting 2 at once vs going for 2 at separate times is in your travel dollars. The flip side of this is that you do not get that one on one time with each child. It worked out well for us bringing home two at once and we would do it again, but it certainly is a lot more difficult!

Christina

[Ebadge90]

My wife and I were cleared for 2 children both by the US and Russian governments. When we got only one referral, we asked why. Our agency told us that we could not adopt 2 children from different orphanages at the same time. The 2 orphanages would have been necessary due to the fact that we were told to adopt 2 children, if one were under 2, the other had to be over 4. And the 2 age groups would be in different orphanages.
Now, before everybody jumps all over me, I do not know if that was the region, Kemerovo, or the agency.
So, before getting too deep into the process and finding out later that you cannot adopt 2 children, make sure that your agency knows your intentions. My agency seems to be in it for the money, and there was a lot of information that they never told us. We found out for ourselves, some of it the hard way.

[randloar]

Ebadge...sorry to hear that is how your agency operated for this!! But what you shared follows what I was hinting at but did not say directly........make sure you ask lots of questions to your agency (and preferably someone who recently also adopted two at once with your agency) to see about these sorts of things. It is so crazy when you are there to work out these issues, more stressful than it could be from here.

And, about the ages/restrictions you were told once there........I can only speak to Moscow City and say we were told that our judge 'preferred' kids to be 1 year apart if they were not bio, although some exceptions had been made in the past. And we found our two in different baby homes, but our agency worked in around 5-6 there, so they didn't seem to worry about that part..........so maybe it was an agency access or regional thing, hard to say but probably more of a 'how they feel on this day of the week' thing.... BUT all are good questions for a prospective agency to have as much information as possible!!!!

[mommyto4]

It does save in costs adopting 2 children at one time. Just be prepared that the adjustment period is more difficult bringing 2 home at once. One year later things are alot better and all woth it!

[votemom]

interesting. i had no idea that different agencies and regions had these different guidelines.

yes, it is challenging bringing home two at once. in our case, however, it was easier for them, as they had been together in the same group since age one month. but, it was very exhausting for us.

[ophelia72]

Thanks for starting this thread. My husband and I are also interested in adopting two. We are thinking a toddler girl and a baby boy. This thread helps in getting some education in knowing what to ask and look out for.
plus what to be prepared for when we return with them.
Great Thread.

[ddahl]

We were approved for 2 as well but also only got a referral for one. As it turns out we had such a long process that the more we though about it the more one sounded good or any at all sounded good.

Home almost 3 years and looking back we totally wish we would have held strong to our original request, The prospect of doing it all over again and the exceptionally huge cost is daunting. Its hard coming home with one or two but if you don;t have any then it could easilly become your new "Normal".

We totally regret not doing two at once. JMHO

[Katie63011]

having gone through this three times, we do sometimes regret not doing two at once as well. It's harder to recover from each adoption financially as well as time away from our kids at home