Adoption Talk.

Hi, friends! Since we last shared on the blog, we had our fourth and final home study! It's so hard to believe that we have been through four home studies, in such a short amount of time!
The adoption agency is now entering everything into their system, and we wait to hear that we are home study approved! 

Saturday was the Chili Dinner and Benefit Sing, which was a great success! Donations given at the Chili Dinner totalled $302.00, and the love offering taken totalled $1095.00! A grand total of $1397.00 was donated that night, to help fund our adoption! 

Thank you to each and everyone who came out that evening, and a special thank you to the guest singers, Jordan Ernst from Plum, PA, Homebound, and the Cole Family. We'd like to thank my sister, Amanda Inman, my mom, Teresa Carter and grandma, Paulette Cole for all their hard work organizing this event. We had a great service, and it was great to be surround by friends and family! We appreciate the love and support shown to us!

We have had many ask details about our adoption, and so we'd like to share a few things with you!

We have not yet been matched with a family, or know any details regarding the adoption. We must first be home study approved, and then wait for a potential match. Typically the birth family gets to choose who they want to parent their child, so the term "matched" means matched with a birth family.

BOY OR GIRL!? 

We do not know if the child will be a boy or a girl, and we do not have a preference! We believe that the Lord has this child already hand picked for us, and we will graciously open our arms to the child, that he has planned for our lives, whether it be a boy or girl! Whether it be a Caucasian child, an African American child, or Bi-racial child. 
A child is a child, red, yellow, black or white, they are all precious in his sight. We will follow the Lord's leading, and move when he says move!

AGE

We are hoping to adopt a newborn, but are open and willing to consider a child up to the age of six years old. 

We are adopting domestically, (here in the United States). Likely the child will come from right here in Springfield, but could be from anywhere here in Ohio, or in any other state! 

WHEN?

We do not know! Once we are home study approved, it could happen at any time. It could be as early as Christmas, or we could wait upwards of a year or more, it just depends! 

FINANCING ADOPTION

For those of you who were unable to attend the Chili Dinner and Benefit Sing, we wanted to share with you some information related to adoption, that many don't know; that is the cost that surrounds adoption. Explaining the costs, and just a little behind the scenes look at exactly why so much money is involved. 

Adoption is redemption. It’s costly, exhausting, expensive, and sometimes seems outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. 

When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him. 

-Derek Loux

Many have asked, why it costs so much to adopt. If you love the child/children, isn’t that enough? Unfortunately, it is not. 

The cost of private infant adoptions varies widely, from a low of about $15,000 to as much as $50,000. Non-profit adoption agencies, such as Choosing Hope Adoptions, right here in Springfield, a Christian adoption agency, tends to be on the lower end of the spectrum. Nevertheless, it is still extremely expensive to adopt.

There are no government funds for a baby voluntarily placed for adoption, as there are for children removed due to abuse and neglect.

Fees include, but are not limited to pre-application fees, application fee, home study fees, Medicaid filing, birth parent attorney fees, adoption subsidy filing, post placement supervision, court appearance, attorney fees, interstate compact and travel (if the adoption is outside of Ohio), birth mother living expenses, medical expenses, ect.

The estimated breakdown of fees for our specific situation are, as follows:

Pre-application fee $50.00

Application fee: $100.00

Full Service Adoption Program: $10,000.00 (50% due at match, remainder due at placement)

Interstate Compact, if required $750.00 (Due at match)

Medicaid Filing, as needed $15-$900.00 (Due at placement)

Birth parent attorney fees $500-10,000.00 (Due at placement)

Adoption Subsidy Filing $20/hour (due prior to finalization)

Full Home Study $1500.00 (50% due at initial visit, remainder due at second visit)

Post placement supervision $1400.00 (Due at time of home visit)

Court appearance $200.00 (due at time of hearing)

Estimated Birth Mother Living Expenses – not to exceed $3000.00 (per Ohio law) (due at match, balance due at placement if different than estimated)

Estimated medical expenses (due at placement) may be unknown for several months after placement.

Estimated birth mother social worker expenses (due at match)

Adoptive parent attorney fees

All fees will be estimated at time of match, and may change due to circumstances outside of Choosing Hope’s control. Fees will be more accurately estimated at time of placement.

We are happy to answer any questions that anyone might have! You can reach out to us through Facebook, email, phone, or text. We are happy to answer any questions or concerns that you may have! This is a learning process for us, as well! 

As we have already shared with you, we are over the moon excited about this journey that the Lord has placed on our hearts! 

We may not know the details now, but we know that the Lord surely does! We cannot wait to see this story unfold! It has been a pretty amazing journey so far! 

God is so good, and none of this would be possible without him, and all of you! 

Please continue to keep us in your prayers, friends!

Love, 

Kevin & Amber