Why Are We Fundraising?

The truth of the matter is that adoption is expensive.  The money all goes to good use, whether paying the salaries of all the people involved or funding assistance programs for birth families and adoptive families or even putting money back into the orphanages that care for the children.  With our first adoption we covered all of those expenses.  Sure, some of that money came back to us through the adoption tax credit and adoption assistance from Ted's work, but that was all after the fact, we had to come up with everything up front.

Now, as we prepare to get back into the adoption process we are finding it much more difficult to raise the funds while also raising a child.  We very much want to grow our family and so we are turning to fund-raising to come up with a portion of the costs.

So how much does an international adoption cost?  The answer is pretty shocking, here is the breakdown:

Application: $500
Home Study: $2,000
Program Coordination: $6,000
Post Placement Supervision: $1,500
Country Fees: between $8,000-$16,000 depending on what program we enter
Post Placement Reporting: $300
USCIS Filing: $720
USCIS Biometrics (fingerprinting): $170
Dossier: $925
Child Passport: $50
Child Visa Exam: $75
Child Visa: $230
Airfare (per person): Approx $1,000-$1,500
Lodging: Approx $6,000
Attorney in Country: $2,800
Departure Tax: $150
Re-Adoption: $500-900

Total: $30,920 - $39,820 

Once the adoption is finalized and our family is complete, we plan on paying your generosity forward to others in similar situations.  Adoption is a great gift but it just so happens to also be very expensive. There are many people out there that would jump at the chance to adopt one of the thousands of waiting children, if not for that expense and we would love to see all of those kids find forever families.

Thank you all for your support!