The U.S. Department of State recently announced that they are increasing accreditation fees for international adoption agencies by a substantial amount. You can read the notice here.
Starting February 15, 2018 all families will now be required to pay an additional $500 towards their adoption. But for families who are pursing multiple children or a sibling group that fee is $500 more per child.
I know $500 doesn't sound like much but this is just the beginning. The new "monitoring fees" are being increased at an extreme rate and ultimately these fees are going to be required to be paid by families who are pursuing international adoption. Adoption is already extremely expensive and a huge financial burden, so adding additional fees to the process will just deter even more families from pursing adoption and leave many children stuck in the orphanages.
We have seen so many drastic changes in the past six months with international adoption that the majority of people in the adoption world are fearful for the future of it. China has drastically changed their rules for eligible families adopting, Ethiopia closed it's doors to international adoption, and now drastic fee changes for international adoption agencies.
If international adoption is in your heart, whether you personally have adopted a child, someone close to you has adopted a child or you are considering international adoption; please take a moment to contact your Senators and House Representative. To do so, please click here for more information.
Bottom line...No matter where you stand on international adoption, all children have the right to a permanent, loving family!
For more information on this change please visit the following:
***There is a documentary on netflix right now called "Stuck" that follows children from three different countries from their orphanages to their new families. Click here to see the preview.