Is it true that if you...?

Question

want to adopt a child you have to pay $20,000.00 or some other amount of money just to get approved to adopt?

Answer 1

From overseas absolutely. Every country is different and the costs can include flights and a gift for the country! It is a very expensive process but in most cases the faster option. Not always the case though. I think 13K + is the average.

Answer 2

Yeah. For domestic adoption it's $10,000 this covers the woman's medical bills and her needs, adoption agency fees, traveling to another state, etc.  For international it depends on what program you go with.

Answer 3

Nope, not at all.

We adopted through Los Angeles county and the only out-of-pocket expenses were to buy things (like an extra smoke detector) to get our home ready for foster care approval and to pay for our fingerprints.

Answer 4

No, that is not true.  Adoptions vary in fees depending on the type of adoption.  You will need to put some money down in the beginning to start the process, but you do not need to spend $20,000 to be "approved".  I would suggest contacting a local reputable adoption agency who can tell you all of the different types of adoptions available and how to begin.  

Good luck to you.

Answer 5

No, but thats about the normal cost after all legal fees and other fees are done.  If you adopt an older child or special needs the state or gov can help.

Answer 6

No, we adopted through Family To Family Adoptions Inc.  An agency in Richmond Texas that helped us grow our family with our daughter!  

The only money they ask for before match is the application fee...which was less than $500!  Our final cost was under $20,000....50% was due upon a match and 50% was due when the baby was born!

We will use them again.

As for paying money up front...the only time you should pay money up front is for an application fee and that should be no more than $500 and many times is less than that!  Anyone who asks for more money than that is putting you in a very risky situation and you will most likely not be seeing a child any time in the near future!  I don't mean to scare you, but my husband and I lost alot of money going about things this way.  But once we signed on with Family to Family Adoptions Inc, we saw the way adoption agencies should be and they were great!  Bethany Christian and Catholic Social Services would be two other great place to look into for adoption as well.

Answer 7

Not always it depends on thee agency you go through.  I am a birth mother to a beautiful soon to be four year old and i asked her adoptive parents about the process you do have to pay to have home studies done which are required to do any adoption, then there are lawyer fees, "donations" that have to be made to the agency theres a lot to be done when adopting.  And depending on the agency you could pay from $5000 to $50000 in most cases around $15000 to $20000 is about right.  If you want any more info email me [e-mail]

Answer 8

Nope, not true.

The cost to adopt depends on the type of adoption but you don't pay $20,000 or even close to just get approved.

You can adopt from foster care for virtually no fees/costs.  

You can do a domestic private adoption.  In this, you will generally pay for the medical fees for the birth mother as well as all the legal costs and what it costs to get your homestudy and other items in order.  I'm not sure how much it generally costs, but I know one family who paid about $10,000 in fees for their adoption privately, domestically.

You can do an international adoption & these can range from $5,000 to $50,000 not including travel expenses.

There is a federal tax credit available (go to http://www.irs.gov and search for "adoption tax credit") and some states also have tax credits available.  You can apply for grants and loans, too (search the internet for adoption grants and adoption loans).  There are many fundraisers available, too, where you can raise funds to cover some of the expenses (search the internet for these ideas, too).

Answer 9

No that is not true at all. That sounds illegal to me.

Answer 10

no not really. your trying 2 help someone so why would you have to pay?

Answer 11

No it is not true, UNLESS your adopting from abroad.

Answer 12

no go to africa and get one off the street they are free

                                   lol

                                  LOL

Answer 13

Definitely not always true.  My husband and I live in MA and we are in the pre-adoptive stages throught the Department of Social Services and we aren't paying anything.  We travelled for classes just because there weren't any in our area any time soon and they come and do our homestudy and go from there.

Answer 14

no. but people do that so they don't have to wait a long time.

Answer 15

It’s true that adoption is expensive.  (Just like good pre-natal care and delivery!)  Most private adoptions of infants or toddlers are between 10K-40K, but state adoptions (through foster care) are $0-$2000.  These adoptions through your states protective services involve older school aged children, siblings, or very special needs babies and children (severe developmental delays, extreme medical issues, etc.)

Adoption fees with private agencies are for all the services the agency provides to every birthmother helped.  Here is a breakdown for the expenses of a typical agency:

1.  COMMUNITY OUTREACH:  Most full service licensed adoption agencies receive calls from hundreds of women a year. They may provide these women and their children with counseling, emergency food, clothing, formula and diapers, taxi fare, doctor visits, etc.   These are women who are NOT placing their babies for adoption.

2.  NON-PLACING CLIENTS:  Birthmothers may be provided with services such as housing for 10 months, along with all their utilities, groceries, clothing, transportation, medical care, etc., and then choose to parent their babies.  Some of every fee goes to these expenses.  

3.  COURT CASES:  All agencies deal with cases where a baby has been born but not placed yet, or has already been placed for adoption, and the birthmother or birthfather seeks custody of the baby.  These long, drawn out cases can take 1 - 2 years of court hearings and trials before the case is settled.

4.  SPECIAL NEEDS BABIES:  All agencies work with babies born with special needs, such as cerebral palsy, HIV+, brain disorders,  or babies born addicted to cocaine, alcohol  or other drugs.  Most agencies reduce or eliminate the adoption fee for the adoptive parents for these babies, so they may be adopted.  

5.  CLIENTS WHO PLACE:  And of course, there are the birthmothers who do place their babies for adoption, and may receive all the above mentioned services -- housing, groceries, clothing, utilities, transportation, medical care, etc. for up to 10 months.

6.  FAILED ADOPTIONS:  If your adoption fails, good agencies will stand behind you financially as well as emotionally.  They will try to absorb that financial loss, and when the time is right, match you with another birthmother without requiring you to pay a second adoption fee.  

7.  LAWYERS:  Agencies have to hire attorneys for all the Termination Hearings.  An “Attorney Ad Litem” is hired to safeguard the rights of the baby, another attorney is hired for the birthmother, and another one for EACH named possible birthfather. Sometimes a “Diligent Search” is needed in order to find the birthfather, and sometimes a Private Detective has to be hired.

8.  OFFICE, ETC. And there is office rent, phones, salaries, office supplies, etc.  Anyone who has adopted can tell you that adoption workers are tireless.  They work 24/7 and spend some long, long hours away from their families while a baby is being born and placed.  I’ve never known one yet that drives a Mercedes!  Social Workers are notorious for their modest salaries.

9.  ADVERTISING:  Most birthmothers look in the Yellow Pages for help with adoption.  That means that in order for an agency to be accessible to clients, it has to purchase an ad.  Agencies can spend anywhere from $10K to $150K on a year’s advertising.  Depends on the market they are in, the size of the ad, etc.  More than half of what agencies make goes back into advertising.  AT&T gets way too much of the adoption fees.

This is what it really takes to keep those doors open at an adoption agency.

Expensive?  Absolutely!  But at least you now know where most of that fee goes.