Jorden and Shelby Shaw

Bringing Baby Shaw Home: Our Journey to Adoption Dear Family, Friends, and Community, We are Jorden and Shelby Shaw, and we have a deep dream: to welcome a baby into our hearts and home through domestic infant adoption. Our path to building a family looks a bit different than we originally imagined, but we are filled with overwhelming hope and excitement to finally become parents.

Our Story For years, we have longed to hear the words “Mom” and “Dad.” Shelby found out at a young age that she has MRKH (Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser) syndrome. This means she was born without a uterus and is unable to carry biological children. We looked into every avenue to bring a child into our lives. While surrogacy was a beautiful thought, the financial reality made it completely impossible for us. Through that heartbreak, our hearts were pulled strongly and clearly toward domestic infant adoption. We know with total certainty that a child does not need to share our DNA to be completely ours, and we have an endless amount of love, safety, and dedication ready to give a baby.

The Financial Reality While our hearts and home are 100% ready, the financial hurdle of adoption is immense. Private domestic infant adoption typically costs between $30,000 and $60,000. Because we want to be completely transparent with the village helping us build our family, here is the exact breakdown of the out-of-pocket expenses we are facing:

Agency & Advertising Fees ($15,000 – $30,000): Covers birth parent screening, matching services, and counseling.

Birth Parent Support ($6,000 – $8,000): Covers allowable legal support, medical bills, and pregnancy-related living expenses.

Legal & Court Fees ($500 – $12,000): Secures adoption attorneys for us and the birth parents to legally finalize the adoption.

Travel & Lodging ($1,000 – $9,000): Required for when we travel out-of-state for the birth and stay nearby while legal clearances (ICPC) clear.

Home Study & Background Checks ($900 – $3,000): Mandatory state background checks and social worker assessments.

We are working hard and investing our own savings into this journey, but we cannot cross the finish line alone. We are launching this campaign to raise as much as possible toward these overwhelming upfront costs.

How You Can Help Us Build Our Family Every single dollar brings us one step closer to holding Baby Shaw in our arms. If you are able to donate, please know that you are directly funding a lifetime of bedtime stories, first steps, holiday traditions, and unconditional love.

If you cannot support us financially right now, you can still play a massive role in our adoption story:

Share: Please post our campaign link on Facebook, Instagram, or email it to your network. Word of mouth is incredibly powerful!

Keep Us in Your Thoughts: Please keep us, our future baby, and the courageous birth parents in your thoughts and prayers.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being part of our village and helping us turn our dream of becoming parents into a reality. We cannot wait to update you all as we get closer to bringing our baby home.

With all our love and gratitude, Jorden and Shelby Shaw