FAQ #5 Isn't Adoption Expensive? How Can You Afford It?

Yes. International adoption costs range between $10,000-$40,000 including airfare and in-country expenses (lodging, food, transportation). Every country has different requirements, so every country has different costs. For example, some countries require no travel; your child is escorted to you. Other countries, like Ukraine, require TWO trips, therefore it is a little more expensive to adopt from Ukraine due to 4 round trip tickets, plus a one-way ticket(I love thinking about that one-way ticket from Ukraine to USA with Ava Urban's name on it!) So depending on what kind of deals we will get on tickets, this adoption is around $20,000.

One of the wonderful things I have learned through adopting is that there are many ministries and organizations and churches and individuals and family members and neighbors and co-workers and friends who are willing to help out. Even when you don't come right out and ask. And for that we have been very, very grateful. We were flabbergasted at the number of garage sale donations we got. On one Saturday we raised $2,200. We had so much stuff we had to borrow our neighbor's garage and driveway too! At the beginning of the summer we were looking for a lawnmower replacement, and pricing, etc and a family member committed to mow our grass the entire summer so we could use the lawnmower money towards our Ava. Neighbors and friends deposited money into our adoption account, and even one person who we have never met blessed us with a fairly large chunk of our expenses. Talk about God meeting a need to meet a need. We thank each and every one of you who have helped us out. We had talked about selling a vehicle, and even selling our house and "downpaying", but the Lord provided through other ways, and for that we are so thankful.

We have raised about $12,000 now. That should cover all of our adoption fees. We only lack the money to pay for airfare and in-country expenses. John will have to miss about 3 weeks of work, and he is contract, so that is another thing we will have to factor in. We have applied for a few grants (Again, many organizations are helping families who are adopting), and whatever we still lack we should be able to take out a low-interest adoption loan, and pay it back as we have it.

And lastly, and I always forget about this when people ask about affording adoption. The tax credit! There is a $10,500 tax credit for each child adopted (not sure if this is just international adoption). This will help tremendously when those adoption credit card payments are due.