FAQ: Are you going to adopt again

Q: Are you going to adopt again?/Are you listed again?/When are you going to adopt again?

I've gotten some form of this question a lot lately.  I don't know if it's because Luke is 6 months or what it is but people seem to be very curious.

Yes, we plan to adopt again.
No, we are not listed again.
I'm not telling you when we plan to start it again.

We are not at any stage in the adoption process for a second child.  We know basically what it'll take to be relisted with Catholic Charities and we know about when we want to start again.  Honestly though, Luke was expensive.  We paid for his medical bills (NICU isn't cheap!), his birth mother's medical bills, attorney fees, Catholic Charities fees, and fees to both CC and Lutheran in order to even be listed.

Catholic Charities placement fees are 14% of prior year tax return's AGI, with a minimum of $12,000.  Plus medical bills and attorney fees for the hearing.

Lutheran's placement fee is a flat $12,000.  Plus medical bills and attorney fees.

Both agencies also have listing and home study fees that are paid up front ($1,000-$2,000 range).

We were lucky with Luke that he was actually a private adoption through an attorney because that saved us a few thousand. 

So as painful as it is to admit...part of our wait now comes down to having enough in savings to pay for a second adoption.  This is part of the reason we are putting off buying a second car as long as we can; we'd rather have a second child than a second car (and we didn't have to sell the jeep because we needed the money...we just didn't need the car.)

I'm not whining about the fees, just being realistic.  Most people are pretty surprised when I tell them all the fees & cost associated with adoption.  And I know having a baby can be expensive too.  If I had given birth to a baby who needed the medical care Luke did it wouldn't have been a whole lot cheaper.  (Well, at least $8,000 cheaper, more if his adoption had gone through Catholic Charities.)

For now we keep living on our budget and being as frugal as we can.  And wait for our tax refund in ~6 months.  Between having a baby, medical expenses to itemize, and the adoption credit it's going to be a nice check*!!


*Really a nice direct deposit to our bank account because who wants to mess with receiving and depositing paper checks??