International Adoption Costs

The "costs and fees" involved in an international can vary. Understanding the fees involved can be difficult.  It is often made even more difficult by the fact that some adoption agencies, adoption facilitators, and attorneys do not outline all the costs up front which means you could spend much more than you originally thought.

You may be surprised and even shocked by the total fees involved in an international adoption and to realize that they are typically lower than the fees involved in a domestic adoption.

The country from which you adopt is a major factor that affects your total child adoption costs. You will also find that the costs involved in adopting a healthy infant or child in a foreign country are frequently higher that in adopting a child with special needs. Costs involved in an international child adoption typically range from $5000 - $40,000.

Financial Assistance for Adopting Families is a link that will provide information about federal, state, employer and private programs that are designed to help you reduce the cost of adopting a child. Yes, there is help out there if you take the time to read about it.  Just make sure to differentiate between programs that may assist differently depending on whether the adoption is domestic or international.

Some adoption agencies, adoption facilitators, adoption attorneys and others involved in assisting persons to adopt a child do not initially disclose all the costs involved in adopting.  If you are on a limited budget this could become a nightmare.  You could literally spend thousands of dollars only to find that you do not have enough money to finish the adoption process.  Meaning you could experience horrible heartbreak and also could lose all, or part, of your money and still not succeed in adopting a child.

Below we have listed the various services, costs and fees typically associated with adopting a child internationally.

We  suggest you save this page to your "favorite places" so that you can use the list below to make sure that any agency or attorney or other individual you talk to is providing you all the costs and fees you will face. 

We advise you to save this page and use the information below because we have heard so many heartbreaking stories from families who lost both their chance to adopt a child and all their adoption savings because they were not told "all the costs" and "all the risks".

Be careful when comparing fees since some agencies, adoption facilitators, and attorneys may give you partial costs and fail to mention fees charged by other governmental authorities, or hospitals, doctors, attorneys, or travel costs, or document preparation fees, etc.  Remember, your TOTAL adoption bill includes not only agency costs but also many other fees such as your Home Study, all legal, doctor, state and federal fees as well as orphanage, court, travel, lodging, filing fees, document fees and others.

You will quickly discover that agencies and private adoption sources may charge for any or all of the fees listed below and they may combine some of the fees in with other categories.  In some cases many of these fees are paid "up front" and may or may not be refundable.  You should ask any agency or other adoption resource about the following services and fees, when they are paid, and if and when they are refundable.

FEES ABOUT WHICH YOU SHOULD ASK EVERY AGENCY OR PERSON YOU MAY CONSIDER ASSISTING YOUR IN ADOPTION. (Your repeated reference to this list is the reason we suggest you save this page to your "favorite places" and print out a copy.)

REGISTRATION FEE

This is the initial fee an agency may charge to review your initial information, to see if they can help you, and to open a file. This fee typically ranges from $0-$1000. With our agency, Adoption Services, this fee is refundable if you are not accepted into our program. This fee may not be refundable with some agencies or facilitators.

APPLICATION FEE

This fee may be combined with the Registration and is usually paid when a completed application is being prepared.  This fee typically also ranges from $0-$1000.

HOME STUDY AND PRE-PLACEMENT REPORT HOME STUDY FEE

This fee covers the costs for the interviews and home visits that are made as part of the Home Study process.  Following the interviews and review of documentation, a Home Study Report is prepared. This fee typically ranges from $750-$4000.

HOME STUDY UPDATE FEE

All Home Studies must be kept current and they are typically valid for 12-18 months. If a placement does not take place within that period, a completely new Home Study may not be needed.  Rather, an update Home Study may need to be completed. This fee typically ranges from $0 - $500.

HOME STUDY REVIEW FEE

This fee is typically charged when you have your Home Study completed by one agency but you work with a different agency to help you complete an adoption.  This fee typically ranges from $0 -$1000.

AGENCY SERVICE FEE

This fee typically covers on-site (agency office) services rendered to the adopting persons. Many agencies have all, or part of, this fee paid "up front" or at the time of a child referral.  If the placement and adoption do not proceed you may loose all or part of this fee.  This fee typically ranges from $1500 -$7000.

POST-PLACEMENT SUPERVISORY FEE

Many international adoptions require after-placement (called post-placement) supervisory contacts and visits.  The number and frequency of these depends on the requirements of the foreign country. Typically you are charged for the supervisory session, for travel time and travel costs, and for any needed reports.  This fee typically ranges from $150-$450 for each visit with the average number of visits being 1-3.

ON-SITE SERVICES FEE

This applies only when an agency or attorney provides on-site (in-office) services based on an hourly rate. Typically, hourly rates vary from $100 - $325/hour.

MEDICAL EXPENSES

This covers the medical examinations that have, and will be done, on the child you are adopting.  The fees usually range from $0 -$1500.

NON-AGENCY FEES INVOLVING ATTORNEYS

This fee covers the foreign country's attorney fees.  Total legal fees typically range from $1500 - $7500.

FOREIGN PROGRAM FEE

This fee is typical of international child adoptions and covers the agency and foreign coordinator fees.  It is usually payable at the time you accept a child referral. This fee varies from country to country and agency to agency but typically range from $2,000 - $28,000.

INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTATION, AUTHENTICATION, AND ORPHANAGE FEES

These fees only apply to international adoption and combined typically range form $1000 - $5000.

At our child adoption agency, Adoption Services, we pride ourselves on providing the highest level of personal and professional care.  We spend a great deal of time, effort, and money to reduce or eliminate risks.

We are a private, fully licensed, and non-profit agency.  We receive no federal or state money to support our Agency and our programs.

A complete and detailed breakdown of Adoption Services' fees and the other miscellaneous fees you can expect to pay are part of our Program Description and Fee and Service Schedule that are provided upon request and automatically provided to everyone who registers with our Agency.

When these fees are required to be paid is important!  At Adoption Services, except for the Registration fee, none of these fees are paid "up front."  And your Registration is totally risk-free.  The Registration fee for our Domestic or International Program is fully refundable if we do not accept you into our adoption program. Additionally, the money to cover the birth mother and baby's medical bills is protected as is any Interstate Fee. Please note that these fees may not be protected at some adoption agencies or with some facilitators and so it is important to ask questions and get quotes in writing before committing yourself in any way.

If you adopt through one of our international programs, the average TOTAL of all the fees listed in the above section will be approximately:

Please visit our home page to read about our commitment to assist adoptive parents like you as well as pregnant women and birth parents.

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Why You Need an Adoption Consultant

There are many risks when you go to adopt a child including losing a child after you have already taken them home (referred to as a disruption), loosing all of the money you have invested in the adoption if the birth mother changes her mind, or finding that there are previously unknown or undisclosed fees that may appear. Dr Berger has helped thousands of  adopting families with domestic adoptions and international adoptions and he is available to assist you no matter what type of adoption you chose to pursue and regardless of whether you work with an adoption agency, facilitator or adoption attorney.  He can help you save your  time, effort and money in helping you to decide what routes to take and the best way to achieve your goal of adopting a child. He can help reduce your risks and potential pain and can help you avoid many of the problems and pitfalls found in the adoption process. You can read and download his free adoption manual or, for more information on how he can help you, please visit his Adoption Consultant link.