Cost

How much did your kid cost?

We hate this question. And we know that we'll be asked it throughout our daughter's life by people who just don't know any better. Our child doesn't cost anything. She is priceless! But the "shipping and handling" fees involved with an international adoption are anything but free.

Why does adoption cost so much? Well, that's a complicated question. There are a lot of people, agencies, companies, and governments involved in the process. Some of this is for the child's well-being and safety. Some of this is to make sure the adoption is ethical and legal. And travel expenses add to the overall price as well.

No, it's not fair that adoption costs so much. And we do find some of the fees to be quite outrageous. But if we want to grow our family in this way, it's part of the deal. And it's more unfair that there are children in orphanages without parents right now!

In the interest of transparency, as well as to provide helpful information for prospective adoptive parents, below is a breakdown of the costs involved with our adoption. These are listed in the order we paid them.

Cost	To/From Who	For What	Status
$890	USCIS	I-800A Form	Paid
$28	CO Dept. of Human Services	TRAILS Background Check	Paid
$250	AAC	Application Fee	Paid
$1600	AAC	Home Study Update	Paid
$3000	AAC	Phase 1 Processing Fee	Paid
$26.75	MO Vital Records	Zack's Birth Certificate	Paid
$17.50	IN Vital Records	Aubree's Birth Certificate	Paid
$2.30	Denver County Records	Certified Marriage Certificate Copy	Paid
$20	CO Manager of Revenue	Fingerprinting	Paid
$80.18	CO Bureau of Investigation	Fingerprint Cards	Paid
$5	Notary	TX Background Check	Paid
$2.86	Shutterfly	Pictures for Dossier	Paid
$5	Notary	Letter of Intent	Paid
$50	Denver Manager of Revenue	Police Records	Paid
$45	CO Secretary of State	Dossier Document Certifications	Paid
$10	MO Secretary of State	Dossier Document Certification	Paid
$180	AAC	I-800A and Home Study Certifications	Paid
$1450	AAC	Dossier Filing Fee	Paid
$425	Courier	Consulate Authentications	Paid
$22.81	FedEx	Mail Dossier Docs to Courier	Paid
$21.81	FedEx	Mail Dossier Docs to AAC	Paid
$5.34	Sam's Club	Aubree's Passport Pics	Paid
$13.98	Walgreens	Zack's Passport Pics	Paid
$300	AAC	Home Study Addendum	Paid
$360	USCIS	I-800A Supplement 3	Paid
$45.80	Venus Puzzle	Fundraising Puzzle	Paid
$3000	AAC	Phase 2 Processing Fee	Paid
$1100	AAC	China Coordinator Fee	Paid
$325	Chinese Embassy	Child's Visa Fee	Paid
$1000	CCCWA	China Special Donation	Paid
$1500	AAC	Post-Adoption Service Fee	Paid
$500	AAC	Post-Adoption Retainer Fee	Paid
$29.33	Fedex	Overnight I-800 approval	Paid
$7765	AAC	Orphanage Donation/In Country Paperwork	Paid
$2000	AAC	In-Country Transportation & Guide Fee	Paid
$50	AAC	Johanna's Birthday Cake and Party	Paid
$2764.72	Airlines	Airfare (used points too)	Paid
$1801.33	Hotels	Lodging in China (used points too)	Paid
$50.20	FedEx	Overnight Visa Applications	Paid
$587.24	CTrip	In-Country Flight	Paid
$835	Chinese Embassy	Chinese Visas	Paid
$473	AAC	In-Country Trains	Paid
$3	Bank of America	Wire Fee	Paid
$12.95	Express VPN	VPN Service	Paid
$20	Dollar Store	Gifts for In-Country Officials	Paid
$475	Ladybugs N' Love	Beijing Touring	Paid
$43.17	FedEx	Priority Express Passports and Visas	Paid
$518	AAC	Orphanage Visit	Paid
$1000	Various (approximate cost)	Food and Activities in China	Paid
$34,708.61	See All Above	Total Adoption Cost	Paid So Far
-$11,725	Family, Friends, and Kind Strangers	Puzzle Fundraiser	Refunded
-$9450	Family	Tax Deductible Donation	Refunded
$13,533.61		Out of Pocket Total Adoption Cost	Paid So Far