The Wall Street Journal just reported that, "A child born in 2009 will cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars, or about $222,360, to raise to maturity." Here, you can use a calculator to determine the cost of parenting:
http://65.216.150.170/default.aspx
When you birth a child or when you participate in most types of adoptions, the financial responsibility for caring for your child is yours and yours alone. However, when you're a foster parent or when you adopt through the foster care system, the financial responsibility is shared. The government helps out a bit, regardless of your income.
This is a tough subject to discuss because a large segment of people have negative impressions of foster parents. Those people assume that foster parents only do it for the money. The fact is, most foster parents receive about $10-$20 a day per child. That's far less than anything I would consider "lucrative." From a monetary perspective, it's not worth my time, particularly if fostering high needs children or infants, both of whom require lots of time and attention.
But that's not to say that prospective foster and adoptive parents shouldn't consider the financial aspect of having a child. They should care about the money! They should care just like everyone should care about their financial ability to raise a child before leaping into the decision to parent.
Ironically, I learned about most of these financial incentives to foster and adopt after I leaped into the decision to parent as a foster-to-adoptive parent. But you don't have to! I'll explain some of the financial aspects below...
Even though the compensation for foster parenting is not equivalent to the going rates for babysitting or daycare, many states will help pay for daycare if you work outside of the home. That doesn't apply to my situation since my husband and I work from home, but it's worth considering for those working people who are thinking about becoming parents. And for us, it could apply if our situation changes and we need to get "real" jobs.
Furthermore, many children in fostercare are eligible for WIC and Medicaid. If you don't know, WIC provides funding for food for children age five and under. For us, WIC pays for our foster baby's formula and saves us about $200 per month. Right now, we use that money to pay for his baby sign language classes, his baby swimming classes, and his clothing. In the future, that money could go towards toddler music lessons, preschool tuition, or his college fund.
Medicaid covers virtually all healthcare costs for foster children as well as for many children who have been adopted through the foster system. Sadly, this is in fact one of the reasons children end up in fostercare: their birth parents relinquish the children into the system so that the children's healthcare needs can be met. And in my opinion, it's another reason to change our country's healthcare plan.
But that's all besides the point of this article. The point here is that even if you are uninsured or under-insured, your foster or adoptive child will have his or her basic healthcare needs covered. Should he or she have or develop a serious medical condition, your related parental stress needn't be exacerbated by the cost of treatment. For us, Medicaid meant we were more willing to take the "risk" of parenting children with certain kinds of special needs. And since we're self-employed, it also meant more flexibility - instead of paying for ourselves for our child's healthcare, we can put the money towards basketball Summer camp or his first car.
The average cost of adopting through the foster system is under $2500. (source: adoption.com) In many cases, the adoption process is virtually free. Ours will likely be free. Other types of adoptions vary and can reach costs up to about $40,000. Lest you think having biological children is cheaper, contrast a foster adoption with the average cost of a hospital birth. Costhelper.com says:
"For patients not covered by health insurance, the typical cost of a vaginal delivery without complications ranges from about $9,000 to $17,000 or more, depending on geographic location and whether there is a discount for uninsured patients. The typical cost for a C-section without complications or a vaginal delivery with complications ranges from about $14,000 to $25,000 or more. For patients with insurance, out-of-pocket costs usually range from under $500 to $3,000 or more"
And after adoption, there's a tax credit up to $12,150.
Parenting is expensive. No matter what path you take, it's going to cost money. For some parents, there is literally no wiggle room in the budget. But luckily for people who aren't yet parents, they have choices in how they want to budget for children. In our circumstance, we chose a plan that gives us financial flexibility. Because we won't have to foot the bill for some basic expenses, we'll have the freedom to afford some luxuries for our child. That luxury comes at a cost. That cost is the emotional challenge of adopting through the foster care system. For us, that's a price we're willing to pay.
http://65.216.150.170/default.aspx
When you birth a child or when you participate in most types of adoptions, the financial responsibility for caring for your child is yours and yours alone. However, when you're a foster parent or when you adopt through the foster care system, the financial responsibility is shared. The government helps out a bit, regardless of your income.
This is a tough subject to discuss because a large segment of people have negative impressions of foster parents. Those people assume that foster parents only do it for the money. The fact is, most foster parents receive about $10-$20 a day per child. That's far less than anything I would consider "lucrative." From a monetary perspective, it's not worth my time, particularly if fostering high needs children or infants, both of whom require lots of time and attention.
But that's not to say that prospective foster and adoptive parents shouldn't consider the financial aspect of having a child. They should care about the money! They should care just like everyone should care about their financial ability to raise a child before leaping into the decision to parent.
Ironically, I learned about most of these financial incentives to foster and adopt after I leaped into the decision to parent as a foster-to-adoptive parent. But you don't have to! I'll explain some of the financial aspects below...
Even though the compensation for foster parenting is not equivalent to the going rates for babysitting or daycare, many states will help pay for daycare if you work outside of the home. That doesn't apply to my situation since my husband and I work from home, but it's worth considering for those working people who are thinking about becoming parents. And for us, it could apply if our situation changes and we need to get "real" jobs.
Furthermore, many children in fostercare are eligible for WIC and Medicaid. If you don't know, WIC provides funding for food for children age five and under. For us, WIC pays for our foster baby's formula and saves us about $200 per month. Right now, we use that money to pay for his baby sign language classes, his baby swimming classes, and his clothing. In the future, that money could go towards toddler music lessons, preschool tuition, or his college fund.
Medicaid covers virtually all healthcare costs for foster children as well as for many children who have been adopted through the foster system. Sadly, this is in fact one of the reasons children end up in fostercare: their birth parents relinquish the children into the system so that the children's healthcare needs can be met. And in my opinion, it's another reason to change our country's healthcare plan.
But that's all besides the point of this article. The point here is that even if you are uninsured or under-insured, your foster or adoptive child will have his or her basic healthcare needs covered. Should he or she have or develop a serious medical condition, your related parental stress needn't be exacerbated by the cost of treatment. For us, Medicaid meant we were more willing to take the "risk" of parenting children with certain kinds of special needs. And since we're self-employed, it also meant more flexibility - instead of paying for ourselves for our child's healthcare, we can put the money towards basketball Summer camp or his first car.
The average cost of adopting through the foster system is under $2500. (source: adoption.com) In many cases, the adoption process is virtually free. Ours will likely be free. Other types of adoptions vary and can reach costs up to about $40,000. Lest you think having biological children is cheaper, contrast a foster adoption with the average cost of a hospital birth. Costhelper.com says:
"For patients not covered by health insurance, the typical cost of a vaginal delivery without complications ranges from about $9,000 to $17,000 or more, depending on geographic location and whether there is a discount for uninsured patients. The typical cost for a C-section without complications or a vaginal delivery with complications ranges from about $14,000 to $25,000 or more. For patients with insurance, out-of-pocket costs usually range from under $500 to $3,000 or more"
And after adoption, there's a tax credit up to $12,150.
Parenting is expensive. No matter what path you take, it's going to cost money. For some parents, there is literally no wiggle room in the budget. But luckily for people who aren't yet parents, they have choices in how they want to budget for children. In our circumstance, we chose a plan that gives us financial flexibility. Because we won't have to foot the bill for some basic expenses, we'll have the freedom to afford some luxuries for our child. That luxury comes at a cost. That cost is the emotional challenge of adopting through the foster care system. For us, that's a price we're willing to pay.
