We have BIG news!
As most of you know, our path to parenthood has been full of winding twists. After being given a diagnosis of infertility, we felt called to foster care. We knew we had a lot of love to give and what better way to give it than loving kids in vulnerable situations. After 2.5 years and 3 precious kiddos later, I don't think foster care is completely in our rear-view mirror, but we do feel our next step is to trust God for permanency in this area of our lives and pursue private adoption.
As part of our adoption process, we have decided to start a crowdfunding campaign. It may surprise you to hear that adoption-related costs can easily total up to $50,000 or more. This is why we have set a goal of $25,000 to help ease the financial burden. We would love to pay cash for our adoption and not incur any debt.
Our first step in this process is to sign on with a wonderful adoption consulting organization. It's not necessary to use a consulting firm, but we believe they will make this process so much easier, less time-consuming, less stressful, cost less money overall, and help us find joy in the journey. We anticipate this expense to be $3500. Their sole ministry and mission is to advocate for Adoptive Families as they answer the Lord's call to adoption. They feel that it is their purpose to help Christian families through the process of adoption by helping pair them with agencies, attorneys, and social workers who will match them with expectant families. They have lists of contacts ready to prepare us for a home study, match us with an agency within our budget, and help us select an attorney whose ethics complement our family. Check them out here.
We also will need to have a home study completed. We had a home study completed prior to becoming foster parents, but unfortunately, this has to be redone. This will cost $1275.
Once we have our home study complete, our profile will be available to be shared! It could take 6-18 months to be matched with a birth family - and when matched, the remainder of our fees will be due. The total fees will depend directly on the expectant parent expenses, attorney expenses, legal fees, and finalization costs. We anticipate these fees to be $35,000 - $45,000.
Lastly, there could be travel expenses depending on the birth family we're matched with and their location in the United States.
This seems like a huge amount of money, but we know God is faithful. He's been faithful so far and we have no doubts he will continue to be.
We hope that by inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as part of the community we hope to build around our child as he/she grows up. We're trusting in God's provision and more important than monetary contribution, we covet your prayers - for our family, for our future birth family, and our future child. We are excited to see how God opens doors and allows our story to continue - all to bring glory and honor to Him!
Much love,
Hans and Brittney
