Everyone wants to know the number and everyone knows it is "expensive" (The quotation marks are because we are talking about a child.) I have heard comments like, "Don't you feel like you are 'buying' a child?" or, "It doesn't seem possible that adoption could cost that much." So, let's see if I can paint a picture for you here and help explain why adopting internationally is so "expensive."
Let's start at the very beginning. Our agency asks that you submit an application and $250 application fee to determine if you are eligible to adopt from the country you are pursuing. No need to waste your time and money if there is something that would prohibit you from completing the process.
Then, once your application is accepted you sign an agreement with the agency and submit the registration fee of $500 and agency fee of $4000. These fees pay for our personal consultant who walks us through every step of the process. It pays for the notary and apostille of documents completed in the state where our agency is located. Numerous calls, faxes, and copies on our behalf. There are representatives available 24 hours a day for us to call while we are in Russia or from home. This pays for all the office staff in Ohio who process and check our paperwork before sending it to Russia. The referral department, the travel department, and the document center. Our agency is considered the "Russia Specialists" and handles more than half of Russia's adoptions each year. They are the ones who communicate with Russia and are licensed and HAUGE accredited to receive referrals of available adoptable children and complete the adoption process. We are paying for their services for over a year.
Because our placing agency is located in Ohio, we also needed to apply to a California agency who is licensed to do our home study. Another $150. Then the home study fee (which would have been paid to the Ohio Agency if they were licensed to preform home studies in our state, not an additional fee) of $2400. This fee pays for the social worker to come to our home on at least 2-4 separate visits, the review of all the documents requested (financials, doctor clearances, picture verification of our home, letters from school teachers, letters from the veterinarian, so many details you cannot even imagine), the 17-20 page report that is the actual 'home study' that will be presented to the Russian judge, and notarized copies of all documents needed (agency licenses, social worker licenses, etc, etc, etc). A home study is required to receive permission from our own country to adopt internationally. We also pay any costs involved in generating documents for the home study: fingerprinting, FBI Clearances, Certified copies of documents (birth and marriage certificates, etc), and postage. Probably another couple hundred bucks. And there is a fee for our agency in Ohio to review that home study to be sure it will be accepted by the Russian judge, $450. We also prepay our home study agency for all of our post-placement reports (required by Russia) $1300.
We then applied for our I-600 A (a form from the US government approving your adoption) to the tune of $805.
Once the home study was finally complete then we prepared what is called Dossier paperwork. This is the huge stack of documents that must be submitted to Russia in order to receive our referral. Every document in this stack must be both notarized and apostilled. An apostille is certification from your secretary of state department validating the notary's stamp is valid. Apostille is required for any document that is generated in the US that will be used in a foreign country. There were over 70 documents that needed to be both notarized ($10 per document) and apostilled ($20 per document in California). It was well over $2000 just to put this paperwork together. Our placing agency also reviews all of these documents. They literally go over every word, date, and signature. Even the notary statements are checked. This process is another $2400.
Once we received our referral we put together more paperwork for court. This batch was ridiculously difficult. Such things as copies of our doctor's medical licenses and diplomas, psychiatric evaluations ($400 to do this privately because Kaiser would not provide support documents), chest xrays and lab results, debt verification letters for every debt and assets we have, copies of stock certificates verifying Brad's business ownership, again, details you can only imagine. And again, every document had to be both notarized and apostilled. Another $1500 or so. Our placing agency reviews all these details again (no additional charge, it's considered part of your dossier).
It's time to include all the Fed Ex expenses over all these months. Because our referral came much sooner than we anticipated there was a bit of scrambling to get documents where they needed to be on time. About another $1000. No joke, overnight a big beefy box to the other side of the country. Even the single documents going back and forth to verify our debts with companies in Florida and Texas were costing us $50-$60 per direction.
Then it was finally time for our first visit to Russia. Airfare approx. $3000. Hotel approx $1000. Lets throw in the drive to San Francisco for our flight: gas-$50, hotel-$100. Food during our travels approx $100. The fee for our medical exams in Russia approx. $1800. Driver's fee (we were picked up at the airport and driven every where we needed to go for a week) $500. Visa invitation fee approx. $240.
Lets touch briefly on what is called "foreign program fees". This is a set amount we pay to cover everything that happens in Russia. The set amount is $19,500. Lets break that down a little: While our agency here in the states is working away to get our referral there are representatives in Russia who actually do all the leg work. They file documents that are sent from the US on our behalf. They translate every word we send them. Remember the hundreds of documents we have notarized and apostilled? Every word must be translated and then notarized as a true and exact copy in Russia. They are driving back and forth from Moscow to the city where our judge is located as well as the adoption center and orphanage. On our most recent trip our driver had to go 2 hours north to pick up a social worker the judge had subpoenaed into court as a witness. All of this is covered by our "program fee". Everything we are doing here in the US has an equivalent in Russia; the same fees for documents and processing and government requirements. In our two trips to Russia we have had 3 different drivers and 3 different translators. The regional representative for the agency also appears at the court house with us (he lives in Moscow and makes the drive too). The pediatrician and social worker representing our child also drive to the city to appear in court multiple days. There is a huge number of moving parts outside of our own country involved in this adoption. Don't forget the judge, prosecutor, and secretary that appeared in court 3 separate days. I can think of over 15 individuals in Russia who have participated in this process. And you better believe all these people aren't just donating their time.
After our first trip we returned home and prepared for trip two. The first trip is to meet the child and officially accept the referral. Trip two is for court. So, trip two: airfare-$2500, hotel $1500, San Fran hotel and gas-$150, food $120, driver fee-$500. We also discovered between trips we would be required to complete a new training course to receive a certificate required to pass court. This is a new requirement thanks to good ol' Vladi trying to make international adoption more difficult. We had already gone through 10 hours of training for our home study. But this specific course and certificate are now required. Another $1800 for the webinar, required reading, testing, and notarized certificates.
Now we are home waiting for trip 3. The third and final trip is the longest and can be anywhere from 10-14 days. We have been told to expect 10 days.So we are planning to have the following expenses before getting our boy home and crossing the finish line: airfare-$3000, hotel-$2000, Food-$200, driver fee $500, Doctor appt for our son-$150, passport for our son-$400, consulate appointment-$200.
All in all our adoption from Russia will likely pass the $50,000 mark. And it is not hard to see why.
Quick comparison by country:
The majority of domestic newborn adoptions cost between $20,000 and $40,000
35 percent of domestic adopters had at least one "false start," in which adoptive parents worked with one or more birth mothers before a match that succeeded.
U.S. foster adoption is the least expensive adoption route, with an average cost of less than $5,000.
The average cost of an adoption from Korea is about $38,000.
The average cost of an adoption from Ethiopia is about $28,000.
The average cost of an adoption from China is about $29,000.
The average cost of an adoption from Russia is about $50,000.
