Ep 4: 5 Types of Adoption and Their Costs

Show Notes

In this Episode Heather discusses:

• 5 common types of adoption including Foster Adopt, Domestic Agency Adoption, Independent Adoption, International Adoption & Embryo Adoption
• Adoption Costs
• Ways to afford adoption
• Associated adoption fees (where your money goes)
• Ways to afford adoption

Adoption. It's surrounded with so much confusion and misinformation. And how many people never move forward with adoption because of this. Hi, I'm Heather. I'm not an adoption coach or consultant, and I'm not within adoption agency. I'm a mom to two amazing kids I've been blessed with through adoption. And on this journey, I've learned and continue to learn a lot. Most of all, I believe that if God has put adoption on your heart, it's there for a reason. And you shouldn't let all the stuff keep you from jumping in. I'm here to offer you hope and encouragement, and to talk about everything from types of adoption, things to know before you adopt, funding your adoption including grants, the home study process, making the most of your adoption wait, talking to your kids about adoption, and so much more. Adoption can be hard, but many of the best things in life often are. You know what, though? It can also be amazing! I'm here to share what I've learned. I hope hearing from someone that's gone this road before you encourages and motivates you to take a step of faith and see where it leads. I'm doing this all for the love of adoption. Let's dive in.

Hello, welcome to episode four of the for the love of adoption show. If you listened to my first few episodes, we shared our story, and I set the groundwork to help you understand why I am so passionate about adoption, and just what it means to me and what I know it can do for you. So now we're going to start getting into more of the practical to really help you so today we're going to talk about some common types of adoption. This isn't all the types but some of the most common types of adoption and possible cost ranges.

Hello, welcome to episode four of the for the love of adoption show.

So if you listen to my first few episodes, we shared our adoption story or stories. And I set the groundwork just to help you understand why I am so passionate about adoption. And just what it means to me and what I know it can do for you if you have a call on your heart to adopt. So now we're going to start getting into more of the practical to really help you. So today we're going to talk about some common types of adoption, their possible cost ranges, and just a little bit of what your money is actually going to. If you're someone that's considering adoption or think you may eventually be considering adoption, I suggest grabbing pen and paper or opening an app on your phone to take some notes. Before we jump in. I do want to make one distinction. One of the types of adoption I'm going to be talking about is foster adoption or foster-adopt. So I just want to take a minute to clarify the difference between foster care and foster adoption. So foster cares temporary adoptions. Permanent foster care is provided to children who are unable to live with their own families for a period of time for whatever reason, and foster families helped by caring for children, usually, while the parents get help that they might need. Foster parents take on the responsibilities of a parent to provide a safe, nurturing and secure family environment for these kids. But the goal of foster care is reunification to their parents. Now, reunification may not always be possible. And if it's not, then that child could become eligible for adoption, but with foster care, reunification is the goal. Okay, so with that distinction, let's jump in. I'm going to talk about five common types of adoption, foster adoption, domestic agency adoption, independent adoption, international adoption, and embryo adoption, foster to adopt. First of all, this is a form of adoption, where a child will be placed in your home for your family to foster but with the expectation that they will become what's called legally free and able to be adopted. Now in some cases, depending on who you work with, you might be able to work with an agency that would allow you to adopt a child that is already legally free. That was in foster care. The adoptive parents can either be the family that was fostering them, or it could be another adoptive family. So in this case, the biological parent's rights will have been terminated by a court and after this happens, the child can be adopted again by either his or her foster parents or another adoptive family. So foster adoption can start with you fostering a child or it could potentially happen if you work with someone who is able to place children where the parent's rights have already been terminated. Now going on to the second type of adoption is domestic agency adoption. Domestic agency adoption is an adoption that is facilitated by a state-licensed agency. This agency is going to provide all of the services This could include counseling, the birth parents, home studies, to the prospective adoptive parents, relinquishment services, and post placement programs. So our daughter's adoption was an agency adoption. It is really the route to take, if you just want someone to handle everything for you, and you don't want to have to figure it out yourself. It's really kind of a one-stop to just get everything done and to have them handle all the different pieces. And they really do handle everything. And many domestic adoptions are open adoptions, a lot of adoptions have turned more open versus closed, which I will be getting into very soon in some future episodes. So if you're trying to wrap your head around open versus closed adoption, and how that all works, then stay tuned because I'll be getting into that soon. The next type of adoption is independent adoption. This is also sometimes called private adoption or parental placement or even direct placement. In this type of adoption, the birth parents and the adoptive parents make an agreement between them that the adoption should go forward. So if you listen to episode two about our son's adoption, that was an independent adoption. So rather than the agency handling everything for us, we went through them for just the home study. And then we personally handled the communication with birth mom, and we hired an adoption lawyer to just handle everything else and get everything finalized. The next type of adoption is international adoption, which is typically handled by an adoption agency. International adoption is also referred to as inter-country or transnational adoption. So it's the type of adoption in which an individual or couple becomes the legal and permanent parents of a child who's a national of a different country. So while parts of the process are similar to what you'd find in domestic adoption, there are other parts that are more complex because you are cooperating with the government of another country in your international adoption process. It will ultimately depend on where you choose to adopt, but all international adoptions must follow certain guidelines and procedures, which a good agency will be able to guide you in next I want to go over embryo adoption when undergoing IVF most couples store extra embryos for future use. Now, these backups often aren't needed and the couple may decide to donate the embryos to other people that are struggling to conceive. So in this case, when using a donated embryo for IVF treatment, a woman can carry her adopted child and experienced pregnancy. So once a couple decides on embryo adoption, they must complete an application get matched with a donor, and legally adopt the embryo then the donor embryo was implanted into the adopted mother's uterus. Now with embryo adoption in Agency helps the donor select adopting parents. The agency also handles many of the details and all the necessary protocols. adoptive parents are encouraged to review information about the donors before choosing an embryo. And this will usually include things like medical records, family history, and more. But like with other types of adoption, they'll also need to decide between open and closed adoption. So again, foster adoption or foster adoption, domestic agency adoption, international adoption, independent adoption, which goes by other names like parental placement, or direct placement, and embryo adoption are some common types of adoption. Now, let's just talk a little bit about the cost. I've got to give a disclaimer here. These are broad ranges, and they can vary greatly, depending on so many things. But I know if you're like me, it can just help to have some sort of an idea of what costs could potentially be. So I'm going to give you really broad ranges. This is just something to give you an idea. So foster adoption can be zero to 5000 or so. Or again, it could be more but the biggest cost with foster adoption is typically the home study. Oftentimes fost-adopt or foster adoption is a less expensive way to adopt agency adoption can be anywhere from 20 to $50,000. Independent adoption can range from 15 to 40,000. International adoption can be anywhere from 25 to 50,000. Again, or more. And embryo adoption can be around 7500 to 19,500 or so, again, these are just broad ranges to give you an idea.

Look, I absolutely understand how intimidating the cost of adoption can be. When we first started considering adoption. The cost is what almost made us turn away. But I knew that I had to figure this out. I had to find a way for us to be able to make this happen. So I spent so much time years figuring out how we could fund our adoption. I do not want you to have to spend that much precious time getting this one aspect of adoption figured out. So out of all of that research, I did I have created a funding adoption guide. It is over 20 pages long. It includes fundraising ideas, recommended adoption grants, loan options, budgeting resources, and more. And just to give you feedback from others, Sherry said raising funds for adoption by Heather is an easy-to-read Practical Guide for those who have a heart for adoption but may be hesitant to move forward due to lack of finances. This is a must-read for those desiring to turn their dream of adopting a child and becoming parents into a reality. Information that took us a few years to glean all laid out in this one resource, it will truly give you a jumpstart in your own adoptive journey. Tammy said the information contained in this book is invaluable. There are so many different ways to raise funds and grants that are available. The author has shared these because of her passion for adoption. And then finally Dawn said she used to work for an adoption agency and that this is such a needed topic, it was so heartbreaking to see people not be able to adopt because of the cost. So look, guys, I get it, the cost can be extremely expensive and intimidating. And it can be what keeps you from moving forward. Do not let that be what keeps you from moving forward. This guide will help you get moving if funding adoption is what's holding you back. To check it out, go to for the love of adoption.com and then shop at the top of the page, and then look for the raising funds for adoption guide. I'm here to support you in your adoption journey. And I know that cost is a big aspect of that for so many.

So I'm excited to hear how this helps you. One of the most important things to remember when considering the various types of adoption is to get the fee structure upfront. If whomever you're working with is not willing to be upfront, I would absolutely suggest going somewhere else. Whether you're going through an agency or an attorney or doing both for different aspects of the adoption, the best thing is to be prepared and avoid being caught off guard by expenses you weren't expecting. And sadly, there are individuals and even organizations looking to profit from the vulnerability of both hopeful adoptive parents and birth parents. But don't let this deter you to ensure you don't fall into this category. Be sure your agency is accredited and upfront when it comes to all of its billing procedures and look at their reviews and research them. If you get a weird feeling. If something doesn't seem right, go find someone else to work with. Although it can be overwhelming to like start looking at a specific agency and then decide to change if you get a bad feeling I absolutely suggest finding someone else. But back to costs. The bottom line is that out-of-pocket costs may be less than you think. So be encouraged, especially when you consider their other sources of funding like adoption grants, which are huge. Basically, that is how we were able to adopt. And the truth is there are different kinds of adoption and different fees associated with each, some are less expensive, and some more costly. But don't let that weigh you down too much. Because our first adoption, it was it was pricey. We did not have the money. And we were still able to make it work because of all the resources that are out there. And I will get into more of that in future episodes. But here is the list of some of the most common expenses related to the adoption process. Just so you can kind of understand where your money is going. Because I often get the question, why is adoption so expensive? What is the money going to so I want to break that down. So first of all their agency fees, these fees are going to help cover the services that are provided by the agency and its operating procedures. So obviously, there's an agency and there's people working. So there's going to be things like staff office space, paperwork, all the things that have to be done for a home study, which is an assessment of prospective adoptive parents to see if they're suitable to adopt a child. That's going to cost money. And you do always have to have a home study when you're adopting. Next attorney fees. So obviously, a lawyer is going to charge you. So a lawyer who either solely focuses on adoption-related cases, or who takes on adoption clients alongside their non-adoption clients, I will tell you in my personal opinion, I would get an adoption lawyer that knows it backward and forwards and upside down and all the ways and I would not personally go with someone who just says yes, I can figure this out. That is just like maybe a general practice lawyer, I would go with someone extremely familiar with adoption. Another fee that's typically going to be built into the fee structure is counseling. So adoption counselors provide counseling and emotional support to the different parties involved in an adoption or in foster care situations. So they're going to work to ensure that the overall well-being of this newly formed family is being taken care of and they're going to help the birth parents cope with the separation process. Next medical expenses the adoptive parent will Sometimes pay for the infant's medical expenses. If the birth parents do not have medical insurance for them. This could include medical or psychological testing. It could include the hospital stay any needed clothing or food as they wait for placement, and adoptive parents may be asked to pay for temporary foster care. If that's something that's needed, the dossier is another expense. This is a country-specific collection of documents that's designed to illustrate what the prospective adoptive familie is like. An adoption dossier includes everything from a family's medical and financial background to their employment history. Next, we have travel expenses. So all forms of adoption can come with some travel costs. For us, it was simple, we had to pay for gas to drive a couple of hours away. But depending on your situation, it could be more. Another thing is we were able to stay in the hospital when we needed to. So we didn't even have to pay for a hotel. But again, that can be different. And of course, if you're adopting internationally, this is going to have larger travel expenses. Another cost is the birth certificate. Once an adoption is finalized, the original birth certificate is amended, reflecting the adoptive parents as the child's parents. And the original birth certificate is often sealed in many states and remains confidential. Next, there's court cost for all domestic adoptions as well as some inter-country adoptions must be finalized in a US court. So court documentation fees really can range from like 500 to 2000. While the costs for legally representing adoptive parents can range from 1500 to 4000. Again, that's just some idea just to help you as you dive in just to get an idea of what the cost can be, and some of what your money is going toward. So again, our daughter's adoption was an agency adoption, we really appreciated that with our agency, we were told the fee structure up front, and we were made aware of any costs that would not be included. So for us, this included things like creating our profile book, as well as updating our home study. So if you are waiting a certain amount of time to be chosen, you may need to do a home study update. And that could be an additional fee, we did end up having to do that. And I think it was 500. For us the way the fees were broken out was a huge advantage. Because we were able to get the process started, there was a certain amount we had to pay upfront to like get going and the application fee and all that. But then we were able to get the process started. While we worked on getting the rest of the money together. In an ideal world, you'd have all the funds available in the beginning, just in case of a fast placement. However, I will say if we had let that stop us, we would never have adopted with our son, his birth mom, which is also our daughter's birth mom reached out to us directly. So we already had a relationship with her through the adoption of our daughter. And this resulted with us moving forward with an independent adoption. Now we'll say the parental placement our son's adoption was a lot more work for us. Because aside from having the agency do the home study, we had to hire the attorney and deal with court dates, and just all of that, versus everything being handled by the agency. So for independent adoption, you really want to again, get an adoption attorney that specializes in adoption, because you want to know they know everything there is to know and that they're not missing anything. This is so important. So for our son's adoption agency performed our home study, which is a requirement, and then we hired an adoption attorney to do the rest. That's just a little bit about our experiences. But your adoption journey may look very different. So if you're considering adoption, but you have to decide which type this should help you in understanding some of your options. And now you can start to take a deeper dive into learning about the type you feel most drawn to. So in future episodes, I'll plan to take a deeper dive into each type. So keep listening in for that. And I definitely look forward to talking to you next time.

Thanks so much for listening in today. And did you know that I offer a full library of free resources to help you along on your adoption journey, and I'm always adding more. This includes downloads of grant recommendations, adoption fundraising ideas, an agency questionnaire, a hospital checklist and much more. You can find that by going to ForTheLoveOfAdoption.com and scrolling to the bottom of the homepage. And if you have an idea for something you'd love to see added to this library, please send me a message and let me know. I'm always looking for ways to help you on your adoption journey. If you enjoy Instagram, be sure to find me there @fortheloveofadoption, where I love to hang out and share live videos and plenty of adoption tips. I'm always excited to support you in your adoption journey. See you next time.