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AFFORDING ADOPTION
Affording Adoption can be overwhelming and frustrating even with the help of an adoption agency. At All About Love Adoptions, we strive to keep our overhead low so adoption can be as affordable as possible for you. There are also several programs for grants and loans specific to adoption which can be applied for during the adoption process.
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It is important as consumers that adoptive parents understand how the fees that they pay are spent. Not all adoption professionals (i.e. agencies, lawyers, facilitators) include each of these areas of adoption in their fees, so it is important to understand not only what the fees you are paying cover but ALSO if there are additional fees in the adoption process that are not included in what you pay the agency you decide to work with.
Here is an example of where fees are spent for a typical domestic infant adoption:
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At All About Love Adoptions our Home Study and Post Placement Visit fees are charged per service at a flat rate, this way you are only paying for the services your adoption process requires.
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The first step to a successful adoption program is reaching and providing support to potential birth mothers. On average, an agency may reach out to and provide services to four or five birth mothers for each one who chooses to place a child for adoption. This involves having qualified staff available 24/7 to respond to questions and provide thorough intake, counseling and case management services. Advertising to reach birth parents to begin with is a substantial expense as well. This is where the bulk of the adoption fees that families pay are spent…in the overhead of finding and helping the birth mothers of their children.
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Once a woman chooses adoption for her child there is additional counseling and then adoption preparation with her and the adoptive family together that needs to be done for a successful placement. At All About Love Adoptions, we believe in having a very hands-on approach to this process, as well as being present and available throughout the hospital stay as well. This results in another significant time commitment for qualified staff.
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Legal fees for termination of parental rights and finalization of the adoption are necessary in addition to the social services aspect of the adoption. This includes not only compensation for the attorney but court filing fees and often costs for searching for birth fathers to meet court requirements.
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While every effort is made to have some form of medical coverage for the prenatal and hospital care when working with a birth mother, there are sometimes unavoidable “gaps” in coverage or lack of available coverage that result in medical bills as well.
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In Pennsylvania, licensed agencies are required to provide support indirectly (through case management referrals) and directly (through financial support) to pregnant and postpartum clients, so all Pennsylvania adoptions include a fee for the fund that supports that expense. In other states, adoptive parents are able to help birth parents with living expenses directly in various ways. Birth parent support is a common adoption expense.
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If your child is not born geographically close to you, travel costs will also be added to the total cost of your adoption. If you are leaving your home state to adopt you should plan to be traveling away from home for anywhere from 1-3 weeks on average.
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All About Love Adoptions also accepts the obligation and responsibility to help maintain openness agreements and contact for many years after all the bills have been paid. Birth mothers may continue to have counseling from the agency at times with no additional fees as well.
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