If you have decided to adopt, you already know that it is going to be a pricey endeavor. Adoptions are not cheap and cost anywhere from $5,000 to $40,000 and possibly more. The more expensive adoptions are usually the international adoptions. Finding enough money to fulfill this dream could prove difficult especially when you have other burdens. There are many options to consider such as personal loans or refinancing your mortgage. If you don’t have the money readily available, you can end up in debt, which is the last thing you want when you finally get a child into your home.

There are ways to relieve the problem. One of the first places to look is the North American Council on Adoptable Children. The NACAC provides help to prospective parents in the United States and Canada, and is a reliable resource. The NACAC has set up counseling for professionals to educate parents on where to find financial assistance. For more information visit the organization’s website at www.nacac.org.

There is plenty of information available at the Child Welfare Information Gateway. The government-run agency has information on public assistance, including a free downloadable packet to review. You can download the packet at www.childwelfare.gov. This is a must read.

In the United States, there are ways to help defer the cost of adoption. National and state governments offer tax credits and benefits for adopting parents. The tax credit does not cover any reimbursed money you may receive, but is applied after the reimbursement, which is still a great help. To learn more about the benefits of the program contact you local child welfare program or tax department. You could also speak to your accountant to find out what is available to you.

Check with adoption agencies about any programs it offers. Some agencies might reduce its fee if you find the birth parents on your own, but this isn’t a guarantee. Check with each agency about its rules.

If you are adopting a foster child, there are specific programs available. This is also something to consider because these fees are usually kept to a minimum and may be waived entirely. Usually the children that are placed through public agencies are children with special needs. Special needs are defined differently in each state.

Adoptive parents could be eligible to receive a grant to help offset the cost. There may be specific requirements for the adoption, so learn all you can about financial assistance for adoptions before jumping into the adoption game right away.

In addition, employees should check with their companies to see if help is available. Some companies might be willing to help ease the burden. Member of the United States military can get help and should seek it.

Another of searching for financial assistance for adoption is by using a search engine, such as Yahoo! or Google. You will get information on grants on how to defray the cost of adoption. You will also find many websites that link you to government agencies that can help.

Whatever your course, know there is financial help in adopting. You don’t have to shoulder the burden alone.



Thanks to Abhishek Agarwal for contributing this article to our Adoption blog:

International Adoption Kazakhstan

Can you answer cancankant’s question about Adoption?:

I submitted my dossier of paperwork to China in June of 2006. I still have quite a bit of time to wait for a referral, but have gone through my “ups & downs” with adoption and especially the prospect of possibly having to explain certain attitudes or political happenings to a child.

I do not agree with China’s politics at all. I find myself at odds with supporting a system that denies their own people basic human rights and will not allow others (Tibetans) their freedom. I do not wish to convey anything negative to my adopted child about her homeland, but these things upset and anger me. I am passionate about humand and animal rights
and China is a top offender in these areas.
I find myself making statements in casual conversation like, “China is really messed up - their govenment doesn’t care about their people”. I wonder how I can adopt from a country (and pay the government adoption fees) whose government I disdain.
Thanks for some of the more positive answers. As for the person who feels I would be benefitting from the “one child” policy, you’re right. I don’t make the rules, though. I think it’s terrible that children, especially girls, are abandoned in China. It’s one of the reasons I decided to go with this program. I have always been fairly vocal/active about my feelings, but I wonder how children adopted from China feel when they are confronted with news stories that are negative about their country of origin.

I also agree that she won’t be her country, but as a child, I think it would be disturbing to hear negative things about one’s country of origin.

I have a hard time monetarily supporting the government of China while Tibetans continue to not be able to gain independence. I understand that I would have to watch my mouth around a child, but things inevitably come out.
To those who say, adopt from the US, it’s much harder than you think. I appreciate the sentiment (and considered adopting domestically). I really do love Chinese CULTURE (holidays, food, traditional dress, music, etc.). This is separate from government.

I did do my research beforehand. I guess with the problems with Chinese toys (lead paint) and the more recent protests, my feelings have been stirred up.

Adoption actually fits in well with my politics. I choose not to have my own child because the world is overpopulated. I am able to do so (as far as I know).

I am also not looking to “save” anyone. I would like to adopt a child who needs a home, period.

How to Make Money Online

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was a Baroque music composer, a virtuoso violinist and a Venetian priest. He was born in 1678 in Venice and was taught to play the violin by his father when he was a young boy. When he was in his mid teens, he took an interest in becoming a priest and was ordained at the age of twenty five. He appeared to have a sickness that may very well have been asthma, so he was unable to play wind instruments. This shortness of breath, however, did not prevent him from playing the violin or composing music.

Antonio Vivaldi spent many years playing with his father and eventually took his first position as master of the violin at an orphanage in Venice in 1703. There, he would teach the young boys and girls what he could of playing the violin. Six years after taking this position at the orphanage, he lost the job and spent the following year as a freelance musician. He was then asked to return to the orphanage after the board realized how important it was for them to have Vivaldi there. Following his return to the orphanage, he spent much of his time composing his own music.

In the early 1700s, Antonio Vivaldi began composing music for operas. He had his own style, which was new and relatively unorthodox, that caused him difficulty throughout his career. Some of his work was not to public taste and so was not really accepted, until he was offered the position of Maestro di Cappella by Prince Phillip of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1718. He spent about three years there producing more operas. His musical career continued to improve greatly after this, receiving commissions from nobles and royalty and so on; however this height was not too long lived. After a time, his music was once again not seen as the music of the time and he soon ran into financial difficulties. He eventually had to sell many of his manuscripts in order to make his way back to Vienna. He passed away in 1741.

This particular musician may not have achieved the greatness that such musicians as Mozart and Bach did, but he was successful in breaking away from the traditional music at the time. His music may have been forgotten for a time, but was rediscovered in the early 1900s and is still enjoyed by an audience today. Antonio Vivaldi is seen as the composer who changed baroque in such a way that it became more classical in style and is proof of his innovative ways. In fact, Vivaldi was quite an influence on Bach, who transcribed many of the concertos created by Vivaldi. It is unfortunate that he was not as recognized, but he was more or less the start of the evolution of the period music. Bach continued the change and was more recognized for it as he made a larger splash in the public eye than Vivaldi ever did.

Antonio Vivaldi was more a quiet priest who kept more to himself, especially as a result of his health, but this did not hinder his affect on music. His talent may not have been as appreciated as it should have been during his life, but he is shown more of the recognition he deserves today.



Thanks to Victor Epand for contributing this article to our Adoption blog:

Adopting From Korea

When is the right time to move from infertility to adoption? When do you emotionally feel ready? Will you ever feel ready and must move forward with other ways of creating your forever family! Mardie Caldwell, through her personal experience and over 20 years of working with couples nation-wide, has made it her life’s work to bless children needing forever adoptive parents.

How do couples decide to move forward in adoption as opposed to doing donor embryo or IVF?

We just had our third try with IVF with my own eggs. Our doctor told us that I was a poor responder and the quality of my eggs is not good. He said our only options are either with donor embryo or adoption. I am just trying to work through the loss of both a dream and of the babies we fertilized and trying to decide the best direction for us. I still have such a passionate desire to “carry life” in me, but I am not sure if that will go away once I start the adoption process or adopt. Does it? My fear with trying donor embryo is if it doesn’t work, can I take another “failure” after all our losses. My fear with adoption is that it might take years or the adoption might keep falling through. My only experience with adoption is a co-worker with an older child adoption that has not been good. I realize there is no guarantee with either path, but it is such a difficult decision, I am curious as to what led other adoptive parents to their decisions.

Mardie’s reply:

We decided that it was more important for us to be parents than to be pregnant. My biological clock was ticking, and we had to decide what we wanted most in our family.

We moved from infertility to adoption and then after our first adoption of our son, we tried some mild infertility treatments again. We didn’t have a lot of money to do extensive infertility drugs or procedures.

So, we decided that adoption was right for us. The decision to adopt came surprisingly easy to both of us. We always wanted to adopt someday regardless of whether or not we had any biological children. So, it was a true blessing for us.

The desire you mentioned about “carrying life” inside of you is natural, and I think most women desire to conceive and see their pregnancy go to term and deliver a healthy baby. I still had that when we adopted. I don’t necessarily think it wrong to have that feeling.

We have suffered seven pregnancy losses. We have experienced infertility, miscarriages, a fetal demise, and a tubal pregnancy with twins. In between the losses, we did have one full term birth of our daughter. It is a hard call. I have always told my adoptive parents that they need to work on creating their family, and if they want to try infertility treatments while trying to adoptive parents, they should. I just couldn’t imagine using birth control when trying to adopt after all the effort of attempting to get pregnant, and I’ve never felt I should ask my prospective adoptive parents to do something I wouldn’t do.

Just a few years ago my OB-GYN gently said to me, “Mardie, why are you doing this to your body?” in reference to all the pregnancies and then losing them. I know he just didn’t understand the desire to give it one last try. A few months later he discovered pre-cancerous cells in my uterus, and I underwent a hysterectomy shortly after that. Knowing I would never carry a child again was difficult.

Even with my “oven” (or as my daughter calls it her “first home”) gone, I still have moments when I experience “signs of pregnancy” and forget it is not possible for me to carry a baby. After so many years of wanting and trying and planning for babies, old habits are hard to break.

I counsel prospective adoptive mothers to pray that if God doesn’t want you to be a mother, He would take the desire away. For me, the desire didn’t leave me, and we adopted our son. You need to be honest with each other and find a medical professional whom you can trust. The chances of success in adoption are so much greater than with infertility treatments. When comparing the cost of infertility treatments and the cost of adoption, you will discover more help in financing and grants for adoption than infertility. Though the emotional ups and downs are about the same, they vary depending on the adoption route you take. Needless to say, when you look down at a child in your arms and those beautiful eyes are peering back up at you, and you know you are a mom-well, that is priceless.

I always say - Don’t give up; there is a baby for you!



Thanks to Mardie Caldwell, COAP for contributing this article to our Adoption blog:

Waiting Children To Be Adopted