How Much Does it Cost to Adopt?

Adoption Friends:

Are you wondering how much it costs to adopt? The January/February 2006 issue of Adoptive Families Magazine (www.AdoptiveFamilies.com) has a great article entitled, "Affording Adoption" by Michele St. Martin that you should read.

St. Martin presents the results of an Adoptive Families reader survey conducted in November, 2005 that showed that the most common price of an adoption as $20,000-$25,000 (before tax credits or any other employer benefits). Domestic adoptions are less expensive than international adoptions on average (the cost being driven up by travel expenses). The survey data presented by St. Martin shows that Russia is the most expensive country for international adoption with China and Korea being the least expensive.

I found the statistics on the "financial risks of failed adoptions" in the article of note: 29% of domestic adoptive parents had a failed adoption before one succeeded vs. 7.4% for international adoptive parents. Of the failed adoptions, over 68% cost the family less than $5,000, with approximately 80% costing less than $10,000.

If you don't subscribe to Adoptive Families Magazine, you can purchase this issue on-line at www.adoptivefamilies.com/table_of_contents.php

My compliments to Michele St. Martin and Adoptive Families Magazine for this very informative article.

Robin Bartko