Hello friends and family!
We have been on an adventure working through fertility struggles, navigating the ups and downs of trying to expand our family. After much prayer and consideration, we are excited to share with you our decision to pursue domestic adoption, and we are hoping that you can be a part of this incredible journey!
Domestic adoption is a beautiful way to build a family and provide a loving home for a child, but it involves many steps and considerations. Because it is such an in-depth process, the costs will add up to a total of anywhere between $45k and $65k. That is why we're sharing our story with a humble request for any contribution you can make to our adoption fund. We have been putting our best foot forward to save as much as we can to cover the majority of the costs ourselves, but we still need help. We want to be wise and make sure that we are financially prepared for a match, which could happen in as soon as three months or as long as two years. If you’re interested in more detail about the adoption process and why the cost is so high, the bottom of this letter has some additional information that may be helpful.
In our quest to make this fundraising effort engaging and meaningful, we have chosen to create a symbolic puzzle (pictured in the photo gallery). Each puzzle piece represents a financial contribution, no matter how small or large. By participating in this unique initiative, you become an integral piece in completing our “family puzzle”. We will write the name of each person/family who purchases a puzzle piece on the back of that piece. We plan to encase the puzzle in a frame with glass on both sides so that we can look back and see, not just the completed puzzle, but the names of all those who supported us and our child along the way.
Now, we want to emphasize that we completely understand if you're not able to contribute financially. We truly need and appreciate all kinds of support—whether it's spreading the word, sharing any resources or helpful information, or most importantly just keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to read our note and for considering our request. You all mean the world to us, and we are incredibly grateful to have you in our lives!
Love, Kaleb & Erica
One of the most common questions asked is why the cost of domestic adoption is often significant. Here are some factors that contribute to the expenses associated with domestic adoption:
Birth Parent Expenses: In most cases, expectant birth parents require financial assistance for medical care, counseling, living expenses, and other necessities during their pregnancy. Adoptive families contribute to these expenses as a way of ensuring the well-being of the birth mother and supporting her decision to place her child for adoption.
Home Study: This involves background checks, interviews, and assessments by licensed social workers or adoption agencies. The home study ensures that the adoptive family is suitable to provide a safe and nurturing environment for the child.
Legal Fees: Adoption involves a significant amount of legal work, including filing paperwork, obtaining consent from biological parents, terminating parental rights if necessary, and finalizing the adoption in court.
Attorneys specializing in adoption play a crucial role in ensuring the legal process is followed accurately and ethically.
Agency or Facilitator Fees: Many families work with adoption agencies or facilitators who guide them through the adoption process, provide counseling and support, and match them with expectant birth parents.
Post-Adoption Support: The journey does not end once the adoption is finalized. Many adoption agencies and organizations offer post-adoption support services, including counseling, educational resources, and access to support groups, to help adoptive families adjust and thrive after welcoming their child.
If you have any questions or would like further information, please do not hesitate to contact us!
It's been a wild ride. After a lot of up’s and downs, dozens of cases, heartbreak and waiting… Wednesday we were told we were chosen for an adoption by a birth mom in Austin, Texas. Most other cases we saw had a due date a few months out, but this one was a quick turn around! When we got the call the baby had already been born on Monday! We flew out that night and met our son and the birth mom the next day!
The birth mom is amazing and we all connected right away. Kaleb and I see Jesus in her sacrificial love for her son, and her strong desire to know he’s loved and will have a good life. It brought Kaleb and I to tears. The Holy Spirit was definitely guiding the process for us to connect.
Our son is doing amazing and will be discharged from the hospital on Monday. Due to legal paperwork we’ll be here in Texas at least through the end of next week.
Thank you for everyone's prayers and support throughout the process! And thank you for your generosity. Our little family of 3 would not have happened without you. We could not be more in love with our son.
Presenting Austin Liam Mertz ❤️
Born May 13, 2024
We went with Austin to remember where he came from, and Liam to honor the name his birth mom gave him.
Thank you so much.
Love,
Kaleb, Erica, and Austin
Hello friends and family,
A few weeks ago our home study was approved! For those that don’t know, the home study included months of paperwork, detailed questioning into our lives, virtual and live training sessions, and a home visit. With this completed home study we have been able to reach out and apply to adoption agencies who are the ones that work directly with expectant mothers. Our consultancy supplied us with a personalized list of recommended agencies. We have already spoken with and applied to two agencies who both happen to be located in Texas. We will hear back first thing in the new year. If all goes well we should be able to go through each agency’s personalized steps and training to get on their waiting families list in January still. Once that occurs we will start to see cases, and our profile book will start being shown to expectant mothers.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support throughout our journey!
- Kaleb & Erica Mertz
Dearest friends and family,
We have been completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support throughout this process so far. We are extremely grateful for each and every one of you and we do not take your efforts for granted! Since you are a part of this journey with us we wanted to make sure to provide an update on where we are at.
Most all of the baseline tasks and paperwork have been completed. This includes legal paperwork, health assessments, financial details, fingerprinting, background checks, and answering a lot of questions about growing up and our personal lives now.
Simultaneously we've been working on creating our profile book with a professional design company who specializes in adoption profiles. The profile consists of text and a lot of images of who we are, what our lives look like, the interests we have, and the people we surround ourselves with. This profile book is what is shown to expectant mothers who are considering to choose adoption for their baby. This is a part of the process that we are extremely excited about, since we are chosen by the birth mother! When we are matched with a case we then still have the option to accept.
On October 13th we have our home study, which is where the agency we are working with comes to our home and ensures that it is a good/safe environment for a new baby. Most of the time will also be spent on simply having conversation around adoption, how our lives up until this point will affect the way we parent, and discussions around the beautiful and the hard things that we may face as adoptive parents.
After the home study it may take a few weeks to finalize our paperwork and get fully approved. At that point we will apply to multiple agencies throughout the country who work directly with expectant mothers. The agencies will be showing our profile book to the mothers and will work with us once we receive a match.
We will post another update in a few weeks as things progress. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and thank you for everything!
Love,
Kaleb & Erica
