Oh....The Adoption Fees

I know that there are more children out there for our family. Some may be temporary (as in foster) and some will be permanent (as in adoptive). I know for sure that Moo is not my only child. There is another child out there for us, for my little family. That is why I am not willing to stay with foster-adopt as the primary way of building my family. It just isn't happening this way. So, I will move on. But this moving on means private adoption, which means adoption fees.

And...well, the adoption fees. I can just hear people "how is she going to pay for a private adoption?!?!" Heck, I am saying that myself! But, where there is a will there is a way. I have not come this far in my life letting obstacles stand in the way of what I want to accomplish.

So, I will raise the fees.  I am going to begin my adoption fundraising by selling crafts. Moo and I have already begun work on some of the crafts (his little hand prints and fingerprints and my print work). I am also painting seasonal plaques and slates. I work for a few hours each night on my creations. It is time consuming, but my strong desire to grow my little family, become a parent to another precious child, and give my son a sibling is all the motivation I need. I know this will not raise all the money to cover the fees, so if anyone has any other fundraising ideas they want to throw out there, feel free. We could use all the help we can get!

 Here is Moo helping me...those are trivets/wall tiles we are working on. I will print a scripture verse on them (Matthew 18:5).

I will link a PayPal account to this blog and hopefully figure out how to take orders for some of my crafts on-line. I have only been working for 3 weeks and I have about $500 in crafts completed. If I keep working on this through the summer and do several craft shows in the fall, plus sell some things through this blog, I might be able to raise some decent money ((fingers and toes crossed!!!))

My plan is to get the home study done and apply to that no-upfront fee special needs infant program I mentioned previously. I will also send my home study to DYFS' adoption operations unit. I will then take 12 months to raise some funds. After 12 months, I will begin the network program through my home study agency for an older child/special needs infant. I don't want to over-extend myself financially and I think this is the smart way to go about this adoption. The network program estimated their fees between $6000-20,000. Obviously I would not be able to afford the upper limit of that fee range (unless I craft 24/7 from now until 2050, haha). But, you never know what events will transpire between now and next year. Hey, I could win the lottery!

Adoption fees are so high! Many people in the adoption world refer to these fees as "ransoms". This term is used more with international adoptions, where children are institutionalized in poor orphanages. The agencies I am looking at are all non-profit and I am interested in special needs adoptions. The fees to adoption a healthy newborn average around $30,000. It can get crazy expensive.