Courtney and Dave Szymke

Updates

• Update 3

  

  4/13/25 Update

  April 13, 2025

  Happy news update! Our Home Study process is nearly complete, just waiting for a couple of signatures to make it official! We would love for you to celebrate with us at Icebergs Italian Ice and Gelato! ❤️ Thank you for sharing if you’re willing. https://adopttogether.org/families/the-szymkes

• Update 2

  

  March 31, 2025

  March 31, 2025
  Thank you for all your wonderful words of encouragement and support! We met with our social worker last week for the first round of in-home interviews and turned in a full binder of supporting documentation that we've been working to gather over the last 3 months. It was a feat we are proud of and there's a sense relief in knowing that piece of the puzzle is in place! Putting ourselves out there is not easy, but we are doing it together with the best of intentions. For those who are praying for us on this journey, know we... Read moreappreciate your prayers for peace of mind and for life to be gentle this week as we await our 2nd round of interviews and the home/safety inspection to happen soon. After the 2nd visit and review of our case, the social worker will write a report that will either approve/allow us to proceed with the adoption process or deny and recommend changes that must be made in order for us to do so. This month is a big one! Thank you for your continued kindness! We'll keep you posted!

• Update 1

  March 2, 2025 Update

  March 2, 2025
  Oh my goodness! You all are blowing us away with your kindness and we are feeling every bit of your love and support! THANK YOU! As of this morning, we are almost to $5,000! INCREDIBLE! We wanted to answer 2 questions that we have received about how the fees for adoption are broken down and what the process is for us. Right now, we are in the Home Study phase. This part includes gathering a TON of documentation, fingerprinting and background checks, gathering reference letters, online parenting classes focused on adoption, doing interviews and in-home visits with a social worker to... Read moresee where we live and do a safety inspection. It's an intense list of tasks but we're making our way through it one task at a time. As a former soldier and teacher, you can bet we will have our binder of documentation well organized and be as prepared as possible! :) Our first in-home visit will be in a few weeks. The social worker will then write a report of our case that will be sent to the court, state, and agency or attorney we are using. The Home Study process can take anywhere from 3-6 months. Once our Home Study is completed, we have a few options. 1) We could match with someone privately by word of mouth or social media and use a lawyer to assist us through the adoption placement. This would be amazing! 2) We can join a small agency or seek assistance from a law firm who helps match families. We have been in touch with an attorney who specializes in adoption and that firm can help us privately match with an expecting mother by joining a list of hopeful adoptive parents (HAPs). This route is not as expensive, but there are no guarantees a match will be made or that the adoption will go through and we could be out thousands in medical, legal, and expecting mother living expenses if she decides to parent instead. (This is known as a disruption, and statistically, it happens to 1 in 4 adoptions before placement.) 3) Alternatively, we are looking to use an agency that reaches nationwide in matching expecting parents with hopeful adoptive parents. This is the most expensive option but also the one that gives our family the additional support of professional digital, print, and video marketing and a risk-sharing program that would help us recoup and reinvest in another match the expenses paid for an expectant mother's living, medical, and legal fees should she ultimately decide to parent instead of place her child for adoption. The fees we've paid so far include: -Home Study application fee: $250 -Home Study and cost of social worker travel fee: $1,175 -Child Abuse, FBI, and MO criminal records background check/Fingerprinting fees: $118 -Adoption profile book (self-created on Shutterfly): $141 --Upcoming expenses-- *If we match privately--this would be such a blessing!* -Legal fees (for expecting mother and us both): $7,500 -Expecting mother living and medical expenses TBD (likely $25,000-30,000) *If we join adoption attorney's pool of HAPs after Home Study approved -Joining waitlist: $1,800 -Adoption profile professionally-created book (required): $1,050 -Matching agency fee: $15,000 -Legal fees: $7,500 -Expecting mother living and medical expenses TBD *If national agency used after Home Study approved -Preliminary application fee with agency: $995 -Adoptive family video profile development: $1,995 -Activation fee (going live!): $5,500 -Online marketing services fee: $18,750 -Remaining legal, medical, and expecting mother living expenses unknown at this time until matched (anticipated to be $55,000) We want to be transparent with our fundraising and ensure you know that every dollar of your donation is helping us along the journey to Baby Z...we are so grateful for your support and for cheering us on! Thank you! Sincerely, Courtney and Dave