Universal Expenses

This information was taken directly from Child Welfare Information Gateway

Universal Expenses

Universal expenses are incurred by everyone who adopts a child. (In some cases, they may be offset by reimbursements or other resources.) These expenses include home study expenses and court costs.

Home Study Expenses

A home study must be completed for all prospective parents, no matter what type of adoption they intend to pursue.1 In the case of public agency adoptions, these most often are completed by the local public agency or its contractors; for other types of adoption, private agencies or certified social workers conduct the home study. The purpose of the home study is to prepare the prospective parents for the adoption, gather information about them so that an appropriate match between the child and parents can be made, and evaluate the fitness of the parents. Home studies culminate in the social worker’s written report, which includes a recommendation about whether the prospective parents are qualified to adopt and, if so, what type of child or children (in terms of characteristics) would be most appropriate (for more information, read Information Gateway’s The Adoption Home Study Process at http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_homstu.cfm).

Usually prospective parents pay for the home study. In the case of public agency adoptions, home study fees may be minimal ($500) or completely waived, although parents may incur fees for medical or psychological evaluations that could be required. With other types of adoption, a private agency adoption facilitator may charge $1,000 to $3,000 for the home study. In some cases, the fee for the home study may be included in the overall private attorney or private agency fee. Information about all fees should be provided in writing by the agency or social worker, and prospective parents should ask for such information.

Legal Fees

All domestic adoptions and some intercountry adoptions must be finalized in a court in the United States. Some intercountry adoptions are finalized in the child’s country of origin. Although not required in these situations, parents often choose also to finalize the placement in a U.S. court. All of these procedures in private or intercountry adoption incur a cost.

In public agency adoptions, most States have a nonrecurring cost allowance that should cover all or most of the adoptive parents’ attorney fees. The cost for court document preparation can range from $500 to $2,000, while the cost for representing adoptive parents in an uncontested adoption can range from $2,500 to $6,000. (Again, some or all of these costs may be reimbursable.) In some jurisdictions, adoptions can be finalized without representation by an attorney.

Citations

1 The Information Gateway Glossary defines “home study” as a “process of mutually assessing and preparing prospective foster, adoptive, or kinship families to determine their suitability to foster or adopt and determine the type of child whose needs would best be met by them. A home study may include a range of evaluative activities, visits to the family’s residence, and educational activities.” (http://www.childwelfare.gov/admin/glossary/glossaryh.cfm)

Continue to Adoption-Specific Expenses

Return to Affording Adoption