Let’s Talk Finances

We’ve been asked why we’re fundraising. Aren’t you a dual income home? It’s a valid question. Adoption isn’t always expensive, but adopting an infant nearly always is. This is because infant adoption involves working with agencies who have costs, and in most cases financially supporting the birth mother (as it should). We’ve chosen not to pursue having biological children, but want to have the experience of raising a child from infancy at least once, thus we’re left with an expensive adoption. We’d love to avoid taking out a loan if possible. For most of our agencies, you have to have half the anticipated costs available in order to present to a mom, the rest of the fees are due at the time of birth.

If we are fortunate enough to pair with a birth family through our cheapest agency, and birth mom has minimal expense fees, then our adoption could cost roughly $40,000 in total. If we pair with someone from our other more expensive agencies, our total anticipated costs could be $60,000+.

We want to be open and honest about how your funds could help us. Here is an example cost breakdown that has been shared with us.

$3,000 Agency Application Fees  

$1,300 Home Study 

$700 Profile creation & dispersion to agencies

$200 Background check and other small fees

$26,000~62,000 Agency & Birth mom expense fees

~$3,000 Last minute travel/ two weeks time in birth state,
much more if baby requires a NICU stay.

$1,600 Post placement social work

~$4,000 Finalization Legal Fees (included as a cost in 1 of our agencies)

In future years, we’ll be eligible to receive reimbursement tax credits which is fantastic, but the high cost on the front end is a delayer at best and a barrier at worst for many families hoping to adopt. That is why we fundraise. Without help, we could try for this in a couple years or enter parenting with more debt. With help, hopefully our parenting journey can begin sooner and get off on a better foot.