ADOPTIONOMICS, Part 1: Why is Adoption So Expensive?
Have you thought about adopting a child, but gotten scared off by rumors of exorbitant adoption fees?
Adopting doesn’t have to be an impossible dream. During this three-part series, you’ll discover some practical steps you can take to make adopting a child a dream come true.
In Part 1, you’ll learn how much adoption costs, and why.
In Part 2, you’ll learn about resources that will help you offset adoption costs.
In Part 3, you’ll learn “tightwad tactics” that will help you save half the money you need to adopt within one year.
Adoption fees vary drastically, depending on the type of adoption you pursue. Public agency adoption generally has no fees or extremely low fees, because state-run agencies usually place children who are age 3 or older, are part of a sibling group, are an ethnic minority, or have medical, developmental, or emotional challenges stemming from abuse or neglect.
Private or independent adoption (illegal in some states), in which prospective adoptive and birth parents find one another directly, is generally less expensive than working with a private adoption agency. However, there’s also a greater financial risk for adoptive parents. If a pregnant woman decides to parent, you will probably not receive a refund on money you paid for her medical bills and/or living expenses.
Fees are all over the board for licensed private-agency adoption. Fees for domestic infant adoption usually range from $15,000 to $30,000 and fees for international adoption typically range from $10,000 to $40,000.
What do adoption fees pay for?
Some people mistakenly assume adoptive parents “buy” their children. Child trafficking, while illegal, is rampant worldwide, as unethical “baby brokers” try to make a quick buck off of trading a child as a commodity.
The fees adoptive parents pay help prevent child trafficking. Adoption fees fund a variety of professional services and enable an adoption to progress safely and legally. Here are a few of those services:
- Reviewing application to adopt
- Locating children available for adoption
- Locating prospective birth parents
- Professional counseling, education, and training for birth and adoptive families
- Pre- and post-placement visits to the adoptive home by an adoption social worker
- Paperwork processing
If you’re deciding which type of adoption to pursue, collect data from a variety of public and private agencies, adoption facilitators, adoption attorneys, and adoption social workers. Ask them for a written explanation of their services and exactly what their fees will and will not cover. When you find an adoption professional with whom you feel comfortable—both emotionally and financially—go for it!
In the next post: Resources to help you offset adoption costs
I originally wrote this series for Free Money Finance, John Nardini’s popular personal finance blog. This article is adapted from my book, The Adoption Decision: 15 Things You Want to Know Before Adopting
Related articles:
- Can I Adopt If I'm on a Limited Income?
- Links to Series on Adoption Financing and Adoption Tax Credit
- USCIS To Increase International Adoption Fees
- Adoption Tax Credit for Ohio Residents Triples
- Adoption Statistics from 2007
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