Is it less expensive to adopt domestically?

[oatmeal]

I see IA is most popular. I know there are oodles of kids trapped in the foster system in this country who need adoptive families. Is the process cheaper for foster kids to become your adoptive child or does the whole thing costs many thousands no matter what you do?

[EFmom]

It depends on the type of domestic adoption. If you adopt through the foster care system it can be free, depending on where you live and where the child is. There may even be ongoing subsidies if your child has medical issues.

If you do a private newborn adoption it can be as expensive or more expensive than some IA, but sometimes it's less.

[mimie]

Adoptions of children in foster care can not only be free, but in some states the child can qualify for adoption subsidies. "Specail needs" children qualify for the subsidies, but some states consider any non-white child, sibling group or child over the age of 3 to be "special needs," as well as children with physical or emotional health problems.

Lots and lots of different children are in foster care and can be adopted - from infants to teenagers. Although it is more difficult to adopt an infant or toddler, many families are able to. Many infants and toddlers come into foster care because their parents can't care for them right from the start. Often they can be placed with family, or are adopted by their foster parents, but many do end up waiting for adoption.

I'm not sure why families seem to be drawn to international adoption - perhaps it seems easier to get a younger child, or maybe it seems like a "sure thing" with no perceived threat of birth parents re-entering the picture. And although foster care in the US is not a great place for a kid to grow up, the children internationally are often in much more precarious situations which tug at adoptive parents' heartstrings.

Adoption out of the foster care system is often a foster-adopt process - the adoptive parents start out as foster parents until the birth parents' rights are terminated and the adoption is finalized, although many families are able to adopt after the birth parents have given up their rights.

Anyway, domestic adoption can be much cheaper, and there are amazing kids who are languishing in foster care. You can contact your state child welfare agency to find out what the process is to be considered as an adoptive placement for kids in foster care.

[EFmom]

mimie, I'll tell you why IA appealed to us. Adoption from foster care varies tremendously from state to state and even from county to county in my state. In my county, the homestudy for this kind of adoption takes over two years to complete. Then, the likelihood of placement is almost nonexistant if you are caucasian. I know two couples who tried it, before moving on to other types of adoption. They were on the waiting list for two and five years respectively with no placements at all, even though both would take mild to moderate special needs and One couple wanted a child around 5-8, and the other one would accept siblings up to 13 years old. The director of the public agency basically admitted that she would do anything to avoid a transracial placement. This is now not legal, but it still exists. I'm not saying this is the norm, but if it's the situation where you live, it's sure a turn off.

In the county next to ours, I know caucasian parents who had placements very quickly. It depends on the local system. If I lived in that county, I would have considered foster/adopt much more seriously.

In addition, not everyone wants to be foster parents and deal with what that entails.

Personally, I'm glad that there are several options for prospective parents. I think the foster to adopt can be great for many people. IA just happened to be better for us.

My IA kids were very well cared for and were in great physical and emotional shape. It's not a matter of feeling they needed "rescuing" or anything like that. It's that the process was more predictable.

[spero]

Originally posted by mimie
Adoption out of the foster care system is often a foster-adopt process - the adoptive parents start out as foster parents until the birth parents' rights are terminated and the adoption is finalized, although many families are able to adopt after the birth parents have given up their rights.

We have friends who hoped to foster-adopt several years ago. They discovered that just getting into the foster care system was such an arduous process that they finally gave up. They were forced to jump through so many ridiculous hoops, it was insane. They are stable, loving people with a good home, whose only desire is to raise & nurture a child; yet they were told that they did not have enough bedroom square footage for foster children! This, when we were living in a two-bedroom, falling-down mobile home with four children! This had to be incredibly frustrating for our friends, as they had TWICE the room - not to mention a much nicer home - than we had! They modified their home, went to the required foster-care classes, had the background checks; and still ended up without a child...they just couldn't handle all the red tape anymore.

I'm sure it varies from state to state and county to county - I mean, one only has to look at the news to see the horrible abuses going on in the foster care system - but IMO it's easy to see why families around here would choose an IA over foster-to-adoption.

[mimie]

My IA kids were very well cared for and were in great physical and emotional shape. It's not a matter of feeling they needed "rescuing" or anything like that. It's that the process was more predictable.

I am very sorry if I made it sound like that is why all families who adopt internationally want to do so. I didn't mean it that way at all. I was puzzling through the reasons myself. I agree with you completely - the process can be much more predictable, and that can be a much better prospect for a lot of families. DH and I would like to consider adoption in the future, and although I see so much value in adopting domestically, I would definitely consider adopting internationally as well. Every family has to choose what will work best for them. And when it comes right down to it, it does not matter whether kids are born down the street or around the world - they need loving families to thrive in, and loving families need kids to love. I hope my feelings about international adoption are a little more clear now - I love what any type of adoption does for families and does for kids.

[EFmom]

mimie, thanks for clarifying.

And when it comes right down to it, it does not matter whether kids are born down the street or around the world - they need loving families to thrive in, and loving families need kids to love.

That about sums it up for me, too!

[steph]

oatmeal, it can be less expensive to adopt domestically, but not always. We did a domestic open adoption through a wonderful agency. The process was relatively quick, and our fees ran around $15,000. That's somewhat average for domestic from what I've read. IA can start around there and run higher - esp. with travel costs factored in. Although, I've heard of a few people whose costs have been less. One of the reasons we first went with domestic adoption was the cost. It seemed most the agencies we were looking at intially ran around $20,000. But in the end, it was not cost that made the difference for us, it was the wonderful staff and philosophy of the agency we used. They were just fantastic. Going through foster care/state agencies is a whole other can of worms. We just weren't interested in going that route, so I really can't speak to it. But what I do know is that it often, in terms of cost is low to free, and often with subsidy back to the adoptive family.