RLC Blog Buzz: Paying for Adoption

This week’s RLC Blog Buzz question is:

“How do I do this, moneywise?  I want to adopt, but it seems so overwhelming.  We don’t really have $20,000 in the bank, ya know!”  Please blog about your experience, ideas, insight, fundraisers and other ideas that worked for you while raising your adoption money.

I think this questions weighs heavy on everyone’s mind in the beginning stages. Statistics show us that 39% of the US population said they had very or somewhat seriously considered adopting a child at one point in their lives. Only 2% every do and I’m sure that the money issue is a large part of that.

There are a couple other posts I’ve already done that you should read first:

Debt Free Adoption

God’s Blessings

The cost of adoption is going to vary widely depending on where you adopt from, the agency you use, etc. We are adopting two kids and so the cost is a little higher (but not double). In the end when you count everything from getting copies of birth certificates, shots, agency fees, travel, etc. our adoption will cost us $28,000. (Roughly $7,000 of that will be travel costs - flying to Ethiopia isn’t cheap.)

As I stated in my post about a Debt Free Adoption, we committed to completing this adoption without incurring any debt. We knew that might mean selling a car, sell the spa, getting a second job, whatever it took we were just trusting in God.

When we started the process we had about half of the total we needed in our savings. That leaves roughly $14,000 and we needed God to show up big time. Of course he does

We had a huge garage sale with two other adoptive couples. We took donations from friends, family, neighbors. In the end we had about 2 garage fulls of stuff. We had two weekend sales at two different locations for a total of 4 days. We raised $5200. Since then we’ve had one other family garage sale as well.

We’ve sold stuff on ebay. My husband has quite a collection of golf clubs going in the garage that have been waiting to be sold. He’ll find bargains at the thrift stores and clean them up and sell them. I’ve gone through the house and my scrapbooking supplies. So far we’ve made at least $1,000.

I do web and graphic design and I have had quite a few freelance jobs in the last several months that have brought in some extra money as well.

We have cut out a bunch of unnecessary expenses. We hardly ever eat out, I’ve been watching the grocery ads carefully, we’ve cut out all that “extra” spending on impulse items.

We’ve applied for a grant (still waiting to hear) and we also have a “donation grant” set up through Kingdom Kids. This allows people to contribute to our adoption expenses and receive a tax deduction as KK is a 501c3 organization.

Like another RLC blogger mentioned, the expenses don’t just all come at once, which helps in the budgeting. The majority of them are little things here and there that we have always been able to pay for out of checking or savings. Our agencies fees are paid in two sections. One was back in January, the other will be due when we travel. The airline tickets will also be a large expense at once.

We also had friends and family really bless us with an “adoption shower” where we received a ton of the things we need to be ready for the kids.

Bottom line, don’t let money stand in the way if you feel God calling you to adopt. If you are faithful with your finances I truly believe that he will bless you.

You can read all of my posts that have to do with paying for adoption here.

UPDATED: I do not want to, in any way, come across as judging those who use a loan of some sort to pay for their adoption. Adoption is a very personal choice, for some even a calling. Financial stewardship is also very personal and our debt-free commitment follows the debt-free lifestyle we have been living for the last eight years. While the Bible warns repeatedly about debt, it is not a sin (although I believe that poor money management is). If a loan is part of your adoption financing, I would encourage you to look into one of the interest free adoption loans through organizations like The Abba Fund.