On Wednesday Jessie and I went to Indy for our first adoption seminar. It was amazing! So much information to go over and pray about. We were both very impressed with their honesty and "no holds bar" attitude. We are both still very concerned about the cost, but have definitely agreed that Adoption Support Center is a possibility for us to find the right birth mom.
I'll try to give you the costs as we have them in front of us. I'll also try to explain as best I can what each item entails. Like I said, it was a lot of information and I don't think we've fully absorbed it all yet.
Information Seminar (which we went to Wed) - $35
Registration Fee -$325 (the seminar fee gets applied to this, bringing it to $290)
Home Study - $1500 + federal mileage (since they are coming from Indy it will be approx 400-500 miles round trip at approx .40 per mile totaling $160-$200)
*Includes: office interview, adoption class, pre-adoption home visit (to make sure the home environment is fit for a child)
*Ready the Nest- A class for first time parents, which is mandatory $115
Activation Fee - $1550 Fee is paid at class w/ submission of registration forms and Biography Folder (complete with required photos and Dear Birth Mother draft letter)
*Includes: supplies, creation and distribution of bio to birth moms and final copy of bio to couple.
Marketing & Advertising Fee - $6,120 (since Jessie will be 40 next month, otherwise it would have been $4,080) The fee is to be paid at the time of the class.
Birth Mom Coordination Fee - $2,400 Fee paid upon receipt of home study draft and signature page
ASC Agency Placement Fee - $9,000 Paid 2 weeks prior to birth mom's due date (agency holds check until petition is filed or baby goes home with us whichever comes first.
All of these fees are non-refundable and some of them (from my understanding) expire. Which is why we want to get as much money in the "baby onderdonk savings acct" as possible before we start anything. We don't want to get half way through and run out of funds and have to start all over. That would not only be heartbreaking, but it would bust our pocketbook. The above prices are for the Domestic Plan for Caucasian & Hispanic Placements. At this time we are not looking to go International, as it is a whole lot more expensive and most countries require at least 2-2 week visits to the country.
We are looking at another plan that is "cheaper" that we are hoping could be the road God wants us to go down, or at least keep in mind. Again it is Domestic, but for African American & African American biracial Placements. We were told this is less expensive because they don't have to do the advertising like they do in the other plan. The prices are the same until you get to the Marketing & Advertising Fee. It is only $1,020 vs $6,120. Another huge difference is the Birth Mom Coordination Fee which is $600 vs $2,400. The ASC Agency Placement Fee is the same in both plans.
The grand total for Plan 1 is $21,175. The grand total for Plan 3 is $14,275. (Plan 2 is International in case you were wondering!)
So there ya go! That is the meat and potatoes of what we learned Wednesday. I'm not sure if Jessie wants to me to add anything to this, but I'm sure he'll have me type up something if he does. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. It truly means a lot to the both of us. All these figures mean is that we have to work hard to raise the money to bring our baby home. He/She is out there waiting for us. Anything you can do to help us bring him/her home would be a blessing! Much love to you!! xoxo
Alana & Jessie
https://www.facebook.com/OnderdonkAdoption
http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/babyonderdonkadoption/29483
http://www.gofundme.com/2cidgk
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