Disclaimer: This page is about costs, and costs only. We are not bemoaning adoption-related expenses, nor are we justifying them. Rather, we are simply using this as a place to calculate — objectively — what it cost us to adopt the way we did.

When we were researching adoption costs, no one — not agencies, not authors, not even other adoptive parents — could give us actual costs, just ballpark estimates. We did read in several places that if anyone calculated the real costs of adoption, including the day-to-day “stuff,” then the costs could be mind-boggling. So we’re keeping a running tally of our costs as well as what we expect it will cost us in the end. We also include some “hidden” costs (like the photo ticket for running a red light when we’re late for a class - I swear, it was orange!). Not included are the “time costs” (the running around, time off of work, and related gas/mileage expenses, etc.) or “necessities” for any child (e.g., childproofing, nursery items, etc.). One cost we did include below was the unexpected two months of “employer” insurance payments since Shannon didn’t qualify for FMLA due to the suddenness of the circumstances. Had our plans gone as planned, we would have ensured she worked sufficient hours ahead of time to qualify.

Obviously, costs will differ for other adoptive parents depending on the parents’ state, agency (or agencies) used, and “need for speed” (and I’m not necessarily talking about getting to classes, but also the nickel-and-dime nature of overnight and priority postage). Let’s just see how crazy this really is…

Update 06/06/07 - Our cost calculations got a little screwed up when we shifted gears midway through our Ethiopian adoption and decided to adopt domestically. Some costs for the international portion of the adoption were not recoverable and cannot be applied to a future adoption, so we have included those in the total costs to date; however, we have marked all international-only costs with an (i) so that other adoptive parents can take this into consideration. Hope this helps!

ACTUAL COSTS TO DATE
1,400.00 Homestudy 02/10/07
10.00 Child Abuse Registry 02/10/07
175.00 CDHS review fee 02/10/07
20.00 CBI/FBI fingerprints (local) 02/12/07
75.00 CBI/FBI fingerprints (processing) 02/12/07
8.00 Postage for CBI/FBI fingerprints 02/12/07
8.10 Postage for health insurance form 02/23/07
10.00 Notary fee for health insurance form 03/01/07
27.34 Required reading 03/05/07
75.00 Ticket for running red light on the way to class 03/10/07
.61 Photos for homestudy and program files 03/11/07
147.00 Birth certificates & marriage licenses 03/13/07
16.20 Postage for certs/licenses 03/13/07
250.00 Application fee for Ethiopia program 03/14/07 (i)
4.77 Postage for second set of fingerprints to CBI 03/16/07
94.00 Registration fee for Infant CPR class 03/17/07
545.00 I-600a docs/filing 03/22/07 (i)
140.00 fingerprints (USCIS) 03/22/07 (i)
4.77 Postage for I-600A application 03/22/07 (i)
14.00 Cost for notarized copy of local police report/clearance 03/30/07 (i)
18.32 FedEx profile to domestic agency 5/14/07
1,400.00 Training and Advisement 05/15/07
9,132.00 Placement agency fees and expenses (domestic) 05/25/07
6,250.00 Birthmother expenses (domestic) 05/25/07
1,000.00 ICPC fee 06/01/07
1,400.00 Post-placement fee 06/01/07
870.35 Hotel (12 days out-of-state) 06/03/07
694.39 Misc travel costs (food, gas, tolls, etc.) 06/03/07
1412.00 Two months of unexpected “employer cost” of health insurance 08/01/07
27.42 FedEx fees between homestudy and out-of-state agencies 01/18/08
77.00 birth cert, 5 copies 02/01/08
152.00 finalization court fees 05/05/08
$25,458.27 once all is said and done, but wait, there’s more…

We’re not sure what effect the delayed finalization will have on the bottom line. You see, we should have finalized in 2007. No finalization = no birth certificate = no social security number = no adoption credit and no child dependent tax deduction. We’ve requested an extension and hopefully the numbers will be sorted out by then and we won’t lose our butts on 2007 taxes.