Recently I have had a few questions about the cost of adoption. Yes adoption is expensive, but let's get one thing straight....we are NOT buying a child! So why does it cost so much and where does the money go?
First thing to think about is that pretty much anyone who touches our files or documents has to get paid. So when we just sent our documents to Chicago they had to go through the post office, to the courier, to the consulate, back to the courier, back to the post office and back to us. That's five people or times our paperwork was "touched" and yes we paid something for every step of that.
So let me break it down for you: (please note these numbers are rounded to make it easy)
$6000- in adoption agency fees ( home study, post adoption fees, dossier fees, etc)
$4000- for international fees (CCCWA fees, child's visa, online processing fees, etc.)
$2000- for other payments to get all our documents ready
$6000- for the orphanage donation (which is required)
$8000- for all travel costs (flights, hotels, guides, etc)
$2000- for other adoption fees paid while we are in China
That is a lot! And I didn't even mention the miscellaneous stuff we have to pay for like parenting classes, mileage, postage, passport and photos, notaries, plus the cash we have to take with us to China. As I've said before the fees for adoption is enough to give someone a heart attack! If you have any other questions about how this all works, please don't hesitate to ask!