Adoption-Specific Expenses

This information was taken directly from Child Welfare Information Gateway

Adoption-Specific Expenses

In addition to the costs common to every adoption, adoptive parents generally incur costs specific to their type of adoption. The costs for three types of adoption are described here: public agency, domestic private agency, and intercountry. These expenses are in addition to the universal expenses described above in most cases.

Public Agency Adoption Costs: $0 to $2,500

Most public agencies place their primary focus on placing children from the foster care system, although some also place voluntarily relinquished infants. Many children in foster care may be defined as having special needs, a category that is defined differently in each State but may refer to children who must be placed with siblings, who are older or in a minority group, or those with disabilities. To read more about definitions of “special needs,” see Information Gateway’s Special Needs Adoption: What Does It Mean? at http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/specialneeds

Up-front fees and expenses for public agency adoptions can be as much as $2,500, including attorney’s fees and travel expenses. In this type of adoption, fees often are very low or even waived so that final costs to parents are negligible. In some cases, the child may be eligible for government subsidy payments (often called adoption assistance), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or Medicaid coverage. (These resources are described at the end of this factsheet.)

Private Adoption Costs: $5,000 to $40,000

Private adoption costs vary widely according the type of agency used and, sometimes,the individual adoption circumstances. It is important for prospective parents to fully understand what is included in private agency, adoption facilitator, and attorney fees. In some cases, the cost of the home study is included, rather than broken out separately.

Private adoptions fall into three general categories, each with its own attendant costs:

Licensed Private Agency Adoption Costs: Approximately $5,000 to $40,000. Costs for this type of adoption include a fee charged by the agency and may also include the cost of the home study, birth parent counseling, adoptive parent preparation and training, and social work services involved in matching a child to a prospective family. The fees charged by licensed agencies are generally consistent within a range, and some even have sliding fee scales based on family income. In addition, some agencies may offer reduced fees to prospective parents who locate a birth parent on their own but who seek out the agency for counseling, facilitation, home study, and supervision services.

Independent Adoption Costs: Approximately $8,000 to $40,000 (average is $10,000 to $15,000). Independent adoptions handled by an attorney generally result in costs that may include medical expenses for the birth mother (as allowed by law) as well as separate legal fees for representing adoptive and birth parents. Allowable fees for advertising may also be included. Additional medical expenses may be required in situations in which there are birth complications.

State laws restrict many of these costs, including any reimbursements to the birth mother. Restrictions may also exist regarding advertisements seeking expectant parents. Where allowed, such advertising expenses may range from $500 to $5,000. The Information Gateway publication Regulation of Private Domestic Adoption Expenses has more information about State laws regulating these types of adoption expenses: http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/expenses.cfm

Compared to licensed agency adoptions, the costs of independent adoptions may be less predictable and have been known to be much more than $40,000. In addition, costs may not be reimbursable in cases in which a birth mother changes her mind and chooses to parent her child.

Facilitated/Unlicensed Adoption Costs: $5,000 to $40,000. These costs are generally the same as costs of licensed agencies. However, in States that allow adoptive placements by facilitators, these placements are largely unregulated. This means there is no regulation in terms of the services provided or the expertise of the facilitator. Prospective parents may have no recourse if the adoption does not proceed as expected.

Intercountry Adoption Costs: Approximately $15,000 to $30,000

Agencies that provide intercountry adoption services charge fees that may range from $15,000 to $30,000. These fees generally include dossier and immigration processing and court costs. In some cases, they include a required donation to the foreign orphanage or agency.2 Overall costs can be affected by the type of entity in the country that is responsible for placing the child (e.g., government agency, government orphanage, charitable foundation, attorney, facilitator, or some combination thereof). Many intercountry adoption agencies do offer a sliding fee scale based on the adoptive parents’ income.

Depending on the country, there can be additional costs, such as:

Child foster care (usually in South and Central American adoptions)

Parents’ travel and in-country stay(s) to process the adoption abroad

Escorting fees, charged when parents do not travel but instead hire escorts to accompany the child on the flight

Child’s medical care and treatment (occasionally in South and Central America)

Translation fees

Foreign attorney fees

Foreign agency fees

Passport fees

Visa processing fees and costs of visa medical examination

Continue to Resources to Defray Adoption Costs

Return to Affording Adoption

Citations

2 See Information Gateway’s glossary for a definition of “dossier” in adoption: http://www.childwelfare.gov/admin/glossary/glossaryd.cfm