RESOURCES             

Books, DVDs, Audio CD’s, etc.
There are excellent resource materials to help you all along your adoption, foster care or orphan care ministry journey. For more information click here.

The Hope For Orphans Directory of Helpful Resources and Organisations

Recognizing that resources and relationships are the life-blood of any successful church orphans ministry, this directory clearly and simply will help you explore both. For more information please click here.

Adoption Costs and Financial Assistance Resources

Financial costs relating to adoption are often one of the primary challenges families face when considering adoption. Many people are unaware of an increasing number of ways to meet this challenge through a variety of adoption financial assistance resources. This overview is intended to help you better understand the costs of various adoption options and identify potential ways to address the financial cost challenge.

Overview of the Costs of Adoption

The inevitable question when people begin to consider adoption is “So how much is it going to cost?” They often search for solid information and quickly find relatively unhelpful ranges of adoption costs from as little as $5,000 to approaching $40,000. So which is it and why?

The honest answer is – it depends. However, there are some general guidelines you can rely on to help you identify the range of adoption costs you are likely to face.

The Type of Adoption Process Matters

The type of adoption process you are considering will have a major influence on the overall adoption costs. For example, families can adopt children from the state foster care system for very little or even no financial cost. Also, families can adopt privately without using an adoption agency or facilitator (e.g., adopting independently, such as by sending “Dear Birthmother” letters to family and friends in order to identify a birthmother) for a total cost of $5,000 to $10,000. However, the use of an adoption agency for a domestic or international adoption will almost always result in much higher costs than adoptions from foster care or independent adoptions.

General Guidelines Regarding the Cost of Adoption

In 2006 and 2007 Adoptive Families Magazine conducted a readers’ survey on their costs of adoption. Over 1,500 respondents participated (of which a majority adopted internationally). Combined with the results from their 2005 Cost Survey, it revealed some interesting facts:

• Domestic adoptions, on average, cost less than international adoptions
• Many people paid nothing for adoptions through the foster care system.
• The most common price of an adoption was $20,000 to $25,000
• The highest amount paid for a single adoption was $60,000.
• With regard to international adoptions in 2006-2007, 14.5% of adoptions cost $20,000 or less; 22.6% cost $20,000-$25,000; 21% cost $25,000-$30,000 and 41.5% cost more than $30,000 (before tax credits and employer benefits)
• With regard to domestic adoptions in 2006-2007, 30.5% of the adoptions cost $15,000 or less; 17.5% cost $15,000-$20,000; 19% cost $20,000-$25,000 and 29.4% cost more than $25,000 (before tax credits and employer benefits)
• Regarding international adoptions in 2006-2007, respondents reported Russia and Guatemala adoptions cost the most (over 85% and 74%, respectively, cost more than $30,000); adoptions from Korea ranked in the middle (54% cost less than $25,000 and 40% cost from $25,000-$30,000); and adoptions from China and Ethiopia ranked among the lowest costs (over 78% of adoptions from China cost less than $25,000, while 84% of adoptions from Ethiopia cost less than $25,000).

For more information about this survey, visit:

www.adoptivefamilies.com and www.adoptivefamilies.com

Financial Assistance Resources for Adoptive Families

As costs of various types of adoptions continue to rise, there has been an increase in financial assistance resources available to help deal with these costs, including:

Federal Adoption Tax Credit

Currently, there is a federal adoption tax credit that provides a non-refundable federal tax credit of up to $11,650 (for 2008) for unreimbursed “qualified adoption expenses,” and is subject to certain income limitations beginning at $174,730 (for 2008) of Modified Adjusted Gross Income. The credit may be allowed for the adoption of a child with special needs even if you do not have any qualified expenses.

See IRS Adoption Credit online at: (http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch37.html#en_US_publink100035220 ), which provides general information about the current federal adoption tax credit.

For further information about the federal adoption tax credit, see the information on the Adoption.com website at http://tax-credit.adoption.com/.

Note: Consult your tax adviser for additional information and to understand how the federal adoption tax credit works and may impact you.

Adoption Loan and Grant Programs

Green Acres Baptist Church has established an Adoption Assistance Fund (“The Fund”) to help qualified families connected to Hope For 100 with the financial cost of adoption. Green Acres has entered into an agreement with The Abba Fund (www.abbafund.org) to administer The Fund, including interest-free loans and grants. To learn more about this resource, contact Rick Allen at: rickallencpa@hotmail.com. Green Acres maintains no financial information on families requesting financial assistance. Decisions about approvals and amounts are controlled by The Abba Fund. It is recommended that those families seeking assistance through The Fund make their initial contact with The Abba Fund and specify that you are part of “Hope For 100” in Tyler, TX.

Listed below are potential financial assistance resources that are generally available for potential adoptive parents:

Adoption Financing – www.adoptionfinancing.com

Shaohannah’s Hope – www.shaohannahshope.org

The Gift of Adoption Fund – www.giftofadoption.org

LifeSong for Orphans – www.lifesongfororphans.org

International Children’s Adoption Resource Effort – www.intlcare.org

National Adoption Foundation – www.nafadopt.org

Fore Adoption Foundation – www.foreadoption.com

Kingdom Kids – www.kingdomkidsadoption.org

Employer Benefits

Employers of all sizes offer employees adoption benefits. Benefits typically range from $2,000 to $8,000 and up, with an average benefit of around $4,000. For more information visit www.adoptionfriendlyworkplace.org.

Adoption Subsidies

Children with special needs often qualify for a subsidy to help parents pay for ongoing treatments. See the following link for more information regarding available subsidies in the State of Texas:

www.dfps.state.tx.us/Adoption_and_Foster_Care/About_Adoption/subsidy.asp

The State of Texas also offers college tuition and fee exemptions relating to certain adopted children and adoption support programs providing post-adoption services to adopted children and their families. See:

www.dfps.state.tx.us/Adoption_and_Foster_Care/About_Adoption/subsidy.asp
www.dfps.state.tx.us/Adoption_and_Foster_Care/About_Adoption/assist.asp

Other Resources

Special Report: Affording Adoption – www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=1272

How We Afforded Our Adoption – www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=1259