42% of the Way

So many of you have asked how adoption works, why is it so expensive, what's next, etc. so I wanted to try to break down a little more in terms of fees, steps, etc. Please know that each adoption may be slightly different in terms of steps, fees, etc.- this is our journey:

Obviously the above is a VERY simplified version, but I hope it gives you a better sense of where we are and the steps that are coming.  Now for the fee breakdown:

$25,900- Agency Fees*

$2,000- Home Study**

$6-10,000- Inner-State Fees***

$2,000- Travel Expenses****

$2,000- Misc Expenses*****

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$37,900-41,900 TOTAL

*Agency Fees- include the costs for marketing our profile, birth parent counseling, child's birth expenses, post-placement supervision until the adoption is finalized and overhead/operating expenses of the agency

**Home Study- This is the study a social worker must do to evaluate the safety of our home and stability of our lives.

***Inner-State Fees-Each state's adoption fees are different based on the people needed to finalize (social worker, attorney, etc) and the laws of that state.

****Travel Expenses- We want to only consider adoption from states that limit the termination of parental rights to 24-72 hours, however some states require adoptive parents to stay in that state as long as 14 days before being able to travel home.

*****Misc Expenses- We were advised to save a cushion in case of extenuating circumstances- perhaps a birth mother needs more financial care or the state fees are larger than anticipated.

Our agency allows us to break down the fees due to them- the first installment is due at the beginning while the remaining portion is due when we are matched.  This is huge as it allows us to fund-raise, apply for grants, etc. while we are in the "waiting" period.

Several of you have asked why we are fundraising for less than the total amount.  We are also trying to save and sell on our own and it's my hope that we can also apply for some grants once we get a little further in the process.  I'm in the process of trying to sell my baby grand piano- please pray for a buyer for this as it will help with a chunk of these expenses.

Not including my mom's "match amount"  (see that story here), with the donations on the site as well as checks sent in the mail, we are 42% complete with our fundraising goal of $30,000 in less than a month!  That's 31% of our total amount needed.  I'm completely blown away by everyone's sweet generosity!

I hope you will consider sharing this post on your social feed.  Feel free to tag me, but we've found that by sharing, you are actually helping us reach a network beyond what we can see.  Regardless of the funding, it's also our desire to connect with others who are familiar with adoption or infertility.  You can either share the blog or the site below.  If you share and want to use the hashtag #carradoption that'd be great!

If you would like to pray, share or invest in our journey, please do so here:
www.youcaring.com/carradoptionfund