APs: How much did your adoption cost?

Question

And if your child's mother had had that amount of money, do you think they'd have given up their child?

Answer 1

$0.00..Adopted threw Foster Care. They even paid for the new "fake" birth certificate.  

Answer 2

Sunny,



We adopted through foster care...so it was paid by taxes. Thankfully, we had a chance to meet with his mommy....and she decided on her own to relinquish her rights. She is looking at numerous years in prision.....but she is a good person and, clearly, love her child. People make mistakes and they pay for those mistakes. She is paying now, but she has said frequently that she doesn't want him to grow up with her as his role model and she thinks that--after years in prision--it would be unfair to him to fight custody in court after he has been raised in another home for all of that time. I don't think she made good choices, but I think she is wrong about one thing. She is a good role model in some sense....she was brave enough to say "I can't do this". and she was brave enough to allow us to care for him. I can't begin to imagine that pain and that sorrow....of terminating your own rights to your child....but she did so for his sake....and I think in many ways that makes her someone to look up to.

Answer 3

so far 35.00 for the fire inspection for the home study. The rest of the home study was free and no SW fees because we did it thorough the county.  For the fire inspection the fire marshall comes out and check to make sure you have a fire extinguisher, smoke alarms on each floor and each room and there are two exists out of each room.    We are going through foster care we have not been to court yet so i don't know how much that will cost but is shouldn't be much

Answer 4

$0

No amount of money would help my children's mother be able to parent them.

We have done many things to help them to try and take care of themselves and they have many resources available to them. Unfortunately they are still not capable or willing to parent.

Answer 5

It is free if you don't mind unethical adoptions.

Answer 6

I chose not to adopt for your reason alone.

I didn't have to ask "if you won the lottery would you keep your child". It was obviously just a financial issue. I saw that they truly didn't want to relinquish their children and would make great mothers.

I assist the children but don't wish to disclose how much but lets just say its no where even near the $100,000-150,000+ it would have cost to adopt the 7 of them from Guatemala.

A couple families are now able to help other families in their community.

Answer 7

I adopted four siblings aged 3-9.  The tax credit covered all the costs.

Their mother had passed away, that's why they were in the orphanage.  

Answer 8

For us, it wasn't about money.

Answer 9

Hi Sunny,

I've had to take a day to actually absorb your question.  My last string of hope was our IA adoption because our daughter was starving.  When you ask a question like this---who can argue?  You are right.  We were wrong.  

I'm a flipping walking billboard of what not to do with adoption.  The joke is we really thought we were making truly informed decisions.  Adoption agency informed decisions is what they really were.

Thanks for the thought provoking question:)

Answer 10

Well if my birth mother would of had a job, kept a job she would of had money to keep me.  So why didn't she care enought about me to earn the money to keep me?

Answer 11

I have never adopted by my cousin Tammy did through foster-to-adopt and she didn't pay anything.  The county paid for everything including the new birth-certificate and all paperwork and court appearances.  

Answer 12

Our adoption cost $15,000, inclucing international travel expenses.

Our daughter's mother had reasons that are sociologically complex, not necessarily monetary.  She isn't poor.  So, yes, I think even if she had that amount of money, she would still have relinquished.

Answer 13

Nada.  We adopted through foster care and we also tried to help the first parents to get them back.  They are pretty low functioning though and just couldn't do it.

Answer 14

Our adoption costs about $18,000. However I don't see that that has anything to do with the natural mother keeping her child - it isn't as if I paid her for my daughter.

Maybe we should ask , "should you buy yourself a new car, or give the money to a pregnant woman who needs it?"

There are financial reasons  why people place their children for adoption, although this isn't always the case. There are also financial concerns for adoptive parents, since often there is a lot of personal sacrifice to come up with the money to be able to afford this, and for many people this isn't even an option.  

Answer 15

1st child: adopted from China. The adoption in total cost $22,000 CDN. However, China only saw $3,000, which was the orphanage fee, which went to fund the food, heating and medical expenses for the children left behind as China does not have any social programs and precious few resources are offered to orphanages. They are low on the government's priority list. The rest of the money went to our Canadian agency, medicals, home study, ministry fees, police checks and the like. So no, my child's mother would not be able to build a life on $3,000, but that really is low on the list of reasons moms in China relinquish. The one-child policy is the #1 reason. Also keeping in mind that you must ask permission to have a child in the first place. Single parenthood (unless through divorce or death) is illegal in China and harsh santions will be imposed on unapproved pregnancies from forced abortion to loss of employment to imprisonment. So no, some money would not have changed the situation. But then again, I have not had the priviledge of meeting her. I very much hope that is possible some day.

2nd child: My new son adopted from foster care. The adoption in total (it's not finalized yet) will be approx: $8,000 (PRIDE courses, medicals, SW fees...) No amount of money would have made that woman fit to parent. Seriously. I am not bashing first moms here, just this one.

I've probably given you way more info than you asked for, but I tend to write like I speak: endless.

Answer 16

Priceless.  And, yes.

ETA:  Facts are facts.  I'm not going to put a price tag on my children.  And, finances had NOTHING to do with why the bparents didn't parent.

It literally made me laugh to see that 9+ people think they know my life better than I do.