Fundraising
Most people don't realize how costly adoption is! Both domestic and international adoption usually cost more than $35,000!! It's an unfortunate reality that discourages many. With travel and birth state lawyer fees our estimate is at least $40,000. We have been working to earn some airline miles to help! Though we have contributed thousands of dollars from personal funds, below are some of the fundraisers we're doing or have done to help contribute to the cost plus a breakdown of where the money goes.
Burp Cloths
Gaby is busy sewing up a storm and is making homemade burp cloths. They are double sided (flannel/terry cloth) They cost $12.00 for a set of 3. Different patterns are available.
Baby Bottle Campaign
We handed out these baby bottles to friends, family neighbors, etc. who would be willing to save their spare change to help bring our baby home. When it was full, we picked it up. It was as simple as that!
Taco Night Fundraiser Dinner!
In April, 2013 and November, 2013 we hosted a taco night dinner where people gave donations to eat in our living room restaurant. We fed 50 people at the first dinner and nearly 90 at the second! They were fun, busy, and memorable experiences. It was fun and humbling to see our home fill up with adoption-supporters!! We raised about $2300 in donations from both dinners!
Pop cans
This was an ongoing fundraiser we did, collecting pop cans from family, friends, co-workers,etc. It was a small but great way to contribute to the cost.
Garage Sale
We had four mega garage sales during summer, 2013! We purged items from our house and received an amazing amount of donated items from friends, families, neighbors, even strangers! We made over $1700 from the endeavor!
The fees
Here is where the money went:
IFS Application Fee: $400 (paid)
IFS Agency Coordination Fee: $4,550 (paid)
Home study Fee: $1,700 (paid)
Home study update fee: $250 (paid)
Post-placement visit (mileage): $75 (paid)
State Police Fingerprinting Fee: $40 (paid)
Adoption Training Courses (11 credits): $164.00 (paid)
Home study medical visits and tests: $240 (paid)
Family Profile Books (75 copies to be shown by social workers to birth moms): $750 (paid)
Domestic (Agency) Program Fees:
1st Payment: $2,750 - due upon submission of family profile components (paid)
2nd Payment: $4,800 - due when profile is complete (paid)
3rd Payment: $9,000 - due upon birthmother match and will cover social services and case management. (paid)
Birth Mother Expenses: $4972 birthmother expenses (paid)
5th Payment: $1,500 required birthmother fund, tax donation issued due within 10 days after placement (paid)
Travel Expenses:
Trip one: $480 + airfare (we used Southwest airline mileage we'd earned to pay for that part) (paid)
Trip two: $6,000 (paid)
Birth State background checks and fingerprinting: $180 (paid)
Birth State legal fees and social worker fees: $6,000 (paid)
Birth State Court Fees: $262 <----Next to pay
Grand Total: $44,113
IFS Application Fee: $400 (paid)
IFS Agency Coordination Fee: $4,550 (paid)
Home study Fee: $1,700 (paid)
Home study update fee: $250 (paid)
Post-placement visit (mileage): $75 (paid)
State Police Fingerprinting Fee: $40 (paid)
Adoption Training Courses (11 credits): $164.00 (paid)
Home study medical visits and tests: $240 (paid)
Family Profile Books (75 copies to be shown by social workers to birth moms): $750 (paid)
Domestic (Agency) Program Fees:
1st Payment: $2,750 - due upon submission of family profile components (paid)
2nd Payment: $4,800 - due when profile is complete (paid)
3rd Payment: $9,000 - due upon birthmother match and will cover social services and case management. (paid)
Birth Mother Expenses: $4972 birthmother expenses (paid)
5th Payment: $1,500 required birthmother fund, tax donation issued due within 10 days after placement (paid)
Travel Expenses:
Trip one: $480 + airfare (we used Southwest airline mileage we'd earned to pay for that part) (paid)
Trip two: $6,000 (paid)
Birth State background checks and fingerprinting: $180 (paid)
Birth State legal fees and social worker fees: $6,000 (paid)
Birth State Court Fees: $262 <----Next to pay
Grand Total: $44,113