https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 02 May 2026 03:19:34 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-598091 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:00:52 +0000 Mrs. Pen 598091@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Jacks: oh wow!! that's insane. I wish we had the money to get started on it right away then! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-598090 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:00:51 +0000 Mrs. Train 598090@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Jacks: that was one of our deciding factors. I really was uncomfortable with the idea of paying for housing and medical and some with no guarantees. I hated the stories of birth mothers who take advantage of adoptive parents. It was just too scary for me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-598076 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:57:12 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 598076@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pen: It's really not that much different... but the wait for referral in China right now is bordering on 5+ years! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-598060 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:53:12 +0000 ShootingStar 598060@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrs. bird: I haven't heard of it, but I think Brockton is just as far for me as for you, lol. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-598049 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:50:07 +0000 Mrs. Pen 598049@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Jacks: what an amazing resource!!! Very interesting to me that some international adoptions are about the same price as a domestic agency adoption... I would love to adopt a girl from China so it's cool to see it's really not any more expensive than domestic anyhow. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597945 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:21:48 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 597945@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Train: Ours had (reasonable) set birth mother fees, nothing paid until match and the whole amount rolls over if match falls through... so very safe and the fees were not extraordinary. Probably about what I lived on in college... and that included all the counseling and social work.</p> <p>But that was pretty amazing to find an agency with no birth mother fees! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597924 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:16:23 +0000 Mrs. Train 597924@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We choose an agency that had no birth mother fees or costs associated with it. So there was a set fee that we could plan for it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597911 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:12:12 +0000 immabeetoo 597911@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrs. bird: probably shouldn't phone type but maybe its just that there's differences state by state 'my sisters in Michigan and has said there isn't a track to foster to adopt there whereas in Iowa there is. That's vague. She's pursuing fostering and were hoping to investigate it for ourselves as well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597895 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:08:23 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 597895@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrs. bird: Many birth mothers are flown in to states with more "adoptive parent friendly" laws and then they are not permitted to be on medicaid in the state where they deliver, so adoptive parents end up paying the bills. Two things about that: 1) we chose a situation where the birth mother was local both for easier visits and the ethical issues of flying to another state for their laws. The medicaid was an additional benefit. 2) Our insurance has an adoption benefit, so it paid any out of pocket medical expenses that we had for the baby that weren't covered by medicaid. </p> <p>Overall, that strategy lowered our expenses a bunch! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597860 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:58:06 +0000 mrs. bird 597860@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@anonysquire: i guess i should have phrased it better, i am less interested in their particular situation, it was more that was the jumping off point for my train of thought about adoption. DH and i have discussed possibly adopting or fostering in the future and the FB post was making me think about numbers. </p> <p>@Mrs. Jacks: that is a WONDERFUL resource! thank you! i like the breakdown of where the $$ is going. i have these images in my head of people turning big profits off domestic adoptions, so the numbers are very helpful to see =) good point about the tax credit as well!</p> <p>@scg00387: interesting. i had no idea! how to children go from being foster children to adopted children in states without foster to adopt situations?</p> <p>@loveletter: thank you! i was thinking that in a state where health insurance is mandatory (where i live it is) that adoptive parents probably wouldn't cover the birth mother's healthcare costs since her ins would and at least with our ins newborn and mother are billed as one, so i wonder if both newborn and mother's care would not be factored into the cost of adoption (seems like healthcare would be a big chunk of $$ if you are covering both)... hmm... i'll have to look into that! </p> <p>@MrsCB: have you seen the program in brockton? i think it's called fresh start? i don't live close enough to be part of it, but it was very interesting! we would like to have a bio child first, and then foster in the future, for different reasons. i would only go into a fostering situation with the hope that LO could be reunited with bio parent if it were safe to do so, not with the expectation that we would have them permanently. i can see how fostering with the hope that you will keep the baby could be very disappointing if it didn't turn out that way. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597824 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:46:08 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 597824@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I researched adoption agencies and in my area it would cost us around 25k. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597742 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:12:14 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 597742@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bluestriped bee: It's very unpopular with agencies, but when adoptive parents push for either a very short pre-birth match or a baby born situation, costs are much lower. It's part of the reason agencies don't like them... But they have lower likelihood of failure due to expectant mom changing her mind and lower overall costs. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597721 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:06:21 +0000 ShootingStar 597721@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I looked into foster care and it seemed really hard to do with a young child (&lt;5) unless you were a SAHM. Daycares require notice, so it can be hard to get care right away. And it's possible to have several temporary placements before getting a permanent one. It's cheaper, but at least for me personally, I don't think I could go that route. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597687 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:55:43 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 597687@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ooh, adoptive families magazine does a cost estimate survey each year. They give nationwide aggregate estimates.</p> <p><a href="http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=1617" rel="nofollow">http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=1617</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597686 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:54:31 +0000 BSB 597686@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My coworker spent over $40k for a domestic infant adoption. They had to pay for birth mothers living expenses and medical bills. Plus of course lawyer fees. That is what initially scared me about adoptions. They were also going out of state for the adoption (CA), so they had to pay to travel there during the birth. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597674 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:51:29 +0000 loveletter 597674@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>In my state, the all agencies I contacted quoted me $25,000 to $30,000 for domestic infant adoptions. The money goes towards all kinds of things - medical expenses, lawers for both you and the birthparents, classes, social workers, the advertising your agency would do, living expeneses for the birthmom. All those things really add up!</p> <p>Foster-to-adopt is much cheaper and we looked into that, but all the foster care agencies I contacted pretty much turned us away when we said we were looking to adopt a baby. They really seem to just be looking for people open to older children, sibling sets and special needs. Someone I know was a foster parent and fostered 4 or 5 babies and they all were reunified with their biological parents... so it's really tough to adopt a really little one through foster care. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597665 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:48:54 +0000 brownie 597665@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bluestriped bee: mine was 20k including meds, icsi, sperm aspiration and 2 weeks in the town we did it at. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597662 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:47:28 +0000 BSB 597662@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@spaniellove: oh, thanks. I was looking at that paid up front plan which was like 4 IVFs plan. That was the number that got stuck in my head. :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597658 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:46:42 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 597658@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>You can look at my adoption series for a rough estimate of costs of different types of adoption. It can be very expensive (or not). I would say ours was on the lower end of the adoption spectrum for various reasons, but there are lots of costs that really add up.</p> <p>Also, don't forget about the adoption tax credit, which is around 13k and helps offset a significant amount of the cost. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597643 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:42:28 +0000 spaniellove 597643@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bluestriped bee: IVF is more like $12-15,000 a cycle unless you're adding on things like PGD which usually doesn't happen. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597632 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:38:51 +0000 anonysquire 597632@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Maybe they have more saved up and 10,000 is the rest that they need? </p> <p>Other forms of adoption like foster to adopt or adopting eggs are significantly cheaper! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597627 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:37:13 +0000 BSB 597627@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>From my research, it would cost about 15 to 20k to adopt an domestic infant.<br /> We looked into costs, the cheapest adoption would be to Foster a child (3 years or older), that would cost 5k.</p> <p>It could very well cost 10k with grants.</p> <p>As someone who is suffering from infertilty, it's expensive. We couldn't afford more than one IVF. IVF is what 25k average. </p> <p>Because of that cost, we probably will skip IVF and go right to adoption. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597626 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:36:52 +0000 immabeetoo 597626@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not sure on costs but I do think that not all states have foster to adopt. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597622 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:35:43 +0000 brownie 597622@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I did not adopt, but my sister has adopted two children and my close friend adopted one. Another friend is trying to adopt.</p> <p>Domestic adoptions can be very expensive. Yes foster-adopt can be very cheap, this is the way my friend is trying to go. There are some disadvantages to going that way. Such as waiting a very long time before getting a child, having a child who isn't released for adopting or an older child. Children may also have other issues based on their history. </p> <p>You can go through an adoption agency which is much more expensive but the advantages are that you are more likely to get a baby if that is what you want. My sister's kids cost 40K for the first and 20K for the second (different agencies). My friend had a mother who wanted to adopt her child out but still went through an agency and it was expensive.</p> <p>You have to pay for all lawyer fees, paperwork fees, sometimes the mother's expenses as well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597617 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:34:24 +0000 lawbee11 597617@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My SIL was looking into adoption (she did several rounds of IVF and one was successful, so they didn't end up going through with adoption), but I think it was going to cost them around $15K to adopt an infant domestically. I know foster to adopt is much less expensive, but you are also not guaranteed to be able to eventually adopt the baby. It's also less expensive to adopt non-infants (but I am not sure how much less expensive). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/adoption-cost-question#post-597603 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:28:32 +0000 mrs. bird 597603@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>someone just posted on FB a FB page that was made to help financially support their adoption. they put on their that they've maxed out two credit cards after four failed IVF cycles with donor eggs but now want to adopt but can't afford it and say they are $10,000.00 short and want to get 1,000 people to donate $10 to help them cover that remaining amount. </p> <p>i know some people are against fundraising for adoption, which i guess i have mixed feelings about, but my question is- does it cost $10,000 to adopt domestically? i was under the impression that international adoptions were very expensive but that domestic adoption when done via foster-adopt were mostly the cost of lawyer fees. if you don't go through a foster to adopt situation and adopt directly through an agency, does it cost over $10,000? where does most of that $$ go? is it possible to adopt for significantly less? </p>