Maneesha and Andrew C.

Adoption has always been our first and only choice—something we’ve thought about critically and intentionally for years, that we’ve carefully learned about.

Us: Maneesha (31) is a bit nerdy and wants to maximize life, always chasing new experiences. Andrew (39) is a bit shy and is wonderfully caring, content with a book, a mug of coffee, and our cat Ellie on his lap. We have been together for 5 years now: What began as a friendship and a trip together grew into a relationship. We see each other as true partners, sharing similar values but balancing each other with our different personalities and priorities. And over time we have built a loving and comfortable home together. We are ready and excited to begin the next stage of our lives as parents for a wonderful new born.

Every child deserves to grow up surrounded by deep love, attention, and care. We believe that the strength and stability of our marriage, combined with the incredible support of our family and friends, will be the solid foundation for a successful parenting journey. Everyone in both of our families is eagerly waiting for this child to be loved and cared for.

After months of researching adoption agencies, committed to a domestic infant adoption and chose to work with Adoptions with Love. It was important to us to choose a non-profit agency in our state that is known to treat birthmoms well, both before and after placement, and prioritizes finding the best parents for each child. They came highly recommended from birthmoms and adoptive parents. The fee we pay goes into a combined pool that supports birthmoms even if they don’t choose to make an adoption plan or later change their mind and parent. We think it’s the best practice and the right thing to do because this minimizes any guilt a birthmom feels, whose expenses have been paid but has a change of heart and decides to parent. We feel this arrangement produces the most ethical adoptions. But it comes with a hefty price tag to do that, much more than we originally planned for.

We have had background checks, medical evaluations, interviews to check for our fit as parents and classes to prepare us. We have prepared our book and are almost done with our home study, the last interview is on Jan 22nd. Hurray !!

Here is the cost breakdown: Adoption agency fee - $60,000 due at placement (this includes all agency fee, birthmom expenses, legal fee and everything else.), Home study fee - $2,000 due after completion, Application and case management - $2,000 (paid), Travel expenses - variable (roughly $4,000 or more depending on NICU stay)

We live in Boston which has a high cost of living, not just for rent and utilities, but also future daycare costs are astronomical. Unfortunately our jobs are not flexible to move to a different lower cost location. We make less than the median salary in the area and are spending > 50% on rent and utilities but are diligent and frugal with the rest. We plan to receive the $17,200 federal tax rebate and we won’t be raising money for that. But the remaining amount is still a burden we would appreciate help with. We are reaching out to this community to ask for any help you can give to make our adoption dream come true!

Thank you very, very much for your time and consideration.