Adoption is EXPENSIVE! Agency fees, home studies, background checks, and legal fees are only some of the expenses incurred during an interstate, domestic adoption. Below is a breakdown of our adoption expenses:
Home study..............................................................................................................................................................$1,000 - $3,000
Travel expenses to birth mother's city and state..................................................................................................$4,000 - $6,000
As good as we may be with our finances, budgeting, and savings, that is not an amount we have. We have worked very hard to be where we are financially; seven years away from being 100% debt free. Taking a loan out to cover the expenses would only erase all the progress we have made. For this reason we will be funding our entire adoption through fundraisers and applying for adoption grants. Debt free adoption is possible.
Searching for Our Missing Piece
Our most ambitious fundraiser is our Missing Piece Fundraiser. The puzzle above is composed of 1000 pieces. The physical puzzle is here, in our home, incomplete. We are asking, those who feel called to help, to "adopt" a puzzle piece (or two, or three...). Each puzzle piece is set at a $35 price. As people donate, we will take the number of puzzle pieces that can be adopted with their donation, and write their family name in the back of each piece they adopt. Those pieces will then be added to our "coming home" pile and we will start building our puzzle, one missing piece at a time. Once this puzzle is complete, it will be hung up in our home, and will be the start of our baby's birth story.
To help donate to our adoption, please see our page at Adopt Together
Adoption Grants
Adoption grants are a great way to help fund an adoption, although they shouldn't be used as a sole funding source. Grants are designed to help you fund anywhere from a fifth to a third of the total adoption costs. Like all grants, proposals must be written and a lot of work is put into ensuring you look as great as you are in person, on paper. The following list shows some of the different grants we will be applying to: