When a couple decides to consider international adoption, one of the first things they ask about is the cost. The answer they get is pretty discouraging. The average international adoption costs somewhere between $25,000 – $40,000 according to surveys. That’s a lot of money. It’s a scary amount of money. For the typical family, it seems impossible. Many families look at the cost to adopt internationally and quickly decide they can’t adopt.
However, that is just not the case. Adoption is an option for families of all income levels. Many of these families go on to adopt two or three or four or more children. Somehow, these families are managing to afford international adoption. The question is, how are they doing it? Can you do it too? Is it really possible to adopt without being rich?
I think that you can and my husband and I are doing it. We make a small income. We don’t own a home, our cars are old and used. Yet, we wanted to adopt and we knew it could be done, so we started out. We had only a few hundred dollars to start out, but we knew it could be done and soon we will bring home our first adopted child.
I’m working on a series of blogs to share what we have learned about affording international adoption. We are still in the process, so we are not a success story yet, but we do know that we are getting there and we are confident that we will reach our goal.
It hasn’t been easy and we’ve had our moments where we really wondered where the next payment would come from. However, it really is possible to do this and so far we have made it. Hopefully, my posts can help a few of you realize that you really can take the plunge to adopt a child from another country. Maybe, you will receive the encouragement you need to take the plunge and pursue international adoption.