We are adopting!

[kid-at-heart]

We created our family by adoption almost twenty-one years ago. No fund-raising available then. We saved for several years before starting the process and still struggled to pay all the adoption expenses. We also borrowed some money, via a personal loan from a bank, and paid it back over a five year period. Adoption is expensive, especially if you are involved with paying the birth mother's pregnancy expenses. We both worked full time before and after our daughter's birth, sucked to have to leave each day for work when we wanted to stay home with her but was so worth it just to have her in our lives. Hindsight, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Adoption is a great way to create a family.

I am not sure how a case worker doing an adoption home study would look at fundraising for adoption. I would be careful there. They may see fundraising as an indication that one cannot afford a child.

Good luck. Being a parent is awesome!

 

[mom2rtk]

No fund-raising available then.

Just because crowd funding is available now doesn't mean it's the best approach now either.

 

[princess sparkle p]

Thanks for all the positive feedback and support! I appreciate the ideas. We have made a lot of changes to create savings. I came to the boards in search of creative ideas, there are lots of great thinkers here! I am not familiar with some of the organizations that offer grants, so it has given me some new research! Thanks for being kind and helpful!!!

 

[ceecee]

We did a private adoption 22 years ago. We basically went on a strict budget, our date nights consisted of a McD cone for .50 and people watching. We saved almost my entire salary, which worked great so I could stay home with our daughter. Friends of ours who also adopted got a loan but we didn't want to do that. Best of luck on your journey! It was the greatest gift of our lives.

 

[crisi]

We created our family by adoption almost twenty-one years ago. No fund-raising available then. We saved for several years before starting the process and still struggled to pay all the adoption expenses. We also borrowed some money, via a personal loan from a bank, and paid it back over a five year period. Adoption is expensive, especially if you are involved with paying the birth mother's pregnancy expenses. We both worked full time before and after our daughter's birth, sucked to have to leave each day for work when we wanted to stay home with her but was so worth it just to have her in our lives. Hindsight, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Adoption is a great way to create a family.

I am not sure how a case worker doing an adoption home study would look at fundraising for adoption. I would be careful there. They may see fundraising as an indication that one cannot afford a child.

Good luck. Being a parent is awesome!

I remember being on adoption boards 20 years ago and there was fundraising. Spaghetti dinners and hitting up friends - some fundraising parties ("pre-adoption showers" where you asked people to bring cash). I also vividly remember a woman whose husband would not sell the $5k worth of motorcycle that was sitting in the garage, or give any of his expenses up. Sometimes I wonder if they ever adopted - and are still married.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Also, check your work or your partners-my husbands work had an adoption assistance program that we got after the adoption was finalized.

This was what I came here to say. My husband's company has a program like this too, and it's never something I would have dreamed would be available. We are strongly considering adopting a child in the future, which was the only reason this caught our eye in the first place.

Congratulations on beginning such a wonderful journey!