The Cost of Adoption

A few people have asked about the cost of international adoption. And while every country, agency, and situation is a little different, I can say with confidence that it's a lot.

First there are the costs that your adoption agency outlines for you:

• Application Fee
• Homestudy Fee
• USCIS Filing of Orphan Petition
• Authentication of Dossier and shipping fees
• Fingerprinting
• Third-party investigation and verification of child's eligibility/orphan status
• Child's medical and lab tests
• Psychosocial assessment 
• Care of the child 
• Child's passport
• Child's VISA
• Immigration fees
• Legal, court, and administrative fees for Ethiopia
• Airline tickets to Ethiopia (2 round-trip for each parent, 1 one-way for child)

I could go on and on, but I won't bore you. Those are the known fees. But then there are a whole lot of expenses that are not mentioned.

For example, we had to take our dossier documents to an office in Chicago (conveniently located on State Street next to Macy's) to get state-sealed. The cost? $44. Not that bad. But add to that the $38 for parking, the $12 for getting a few items re-notarized, gas money, lunch money, and you've got yourself well over a hundred bucks.

Then I had to make four sets of copies of the 22 dossier documents, each one anywhere from 2-20 pages long. They had to be collated, stapled, etc. All in all, there were nearly 400 pages. Now, I could've spent 27 hours using my home photocopier that takes about 45 seconds per copy, but I opted to take them to a printer. The price for copying, collating and stapling that mess of papers? $90.

This is the actual stack of papers just for dossier!

But here's the cool thing, and I feel a little like the MasterCard commercial as I write this:

Today we got an unexpected check from a doctor's office in the amount of $220. Apparently we had overpaid at some point. That more than covered the jaunt downtown and the photocopies. God provided. And more than we needed.

Learning about God's faithful provision? Priceless.

When I went to Chicago with the papers, two of my best friends came with me. Stephanie took a day off work to tag along. Heather coordinated babysitting not just for her kids but also for mine. We joked and laughed all the way downtown. They sat and waited with me while my papers were reviewed. When I was told some had to be re-done, they insisted we skip lunch and go re-do them right then. So we traipsed around the city on foot, got lost a couple times, got papers re-notarized, Steph had to loan me cash b/c they were gonna charge extra for a debit card, traipsed back to the first office (all this in 20 degree weather), waited while the papers we re-reviewed, and finally got some lunch. Which, of course, they refused to let me pay for.

Learning about on-earth angels who disguise themselves as friends? Priceless.

Ken read a quote on an adoption blog about a year ago, when we were first investigating the costs. It read, "What God approves, God funds."

Amen to that.

Is international adoption costly? Yes. Are we worried about the expenses? No. Have we thought through how much it's really going to cost? Yes. It's a lot. But God called us to adopt. Of this we are confident. And He who has called us is faithful.

...

Now our dossier papers get FedExed to our adoption agency in Grand Rapids. From there they will go to D.C. to be further authenticated, then on to Ethiopia. And then we wait.

Because there's a little girl out there who needs a home. And our home needs a little girl. And God's timing is perfect.

Thanks for your ongoing prayers, support, and interest. Please pray that all our paperwork is accepted and gets to the right people at the right time.

And please keep praying for our daughter, who no doubt is facing tragedies few of us can comprehend.