Understanding the Cost of an Adoption

Most estimates put the cost of raising a child at more than $20,000 per year, not including the price of a college education. For parents of a biological child, there’s little expense in bringing the child into the home that isn’t covered by insurance. But if you plan or choose to adopt, you can easily add another $10,000 to $40,000, depending on where and how you adopt a child.

Here are the typical costs involved in an adoption proceeding:

• The agency fee—Usually, the most expensive part of the adoption process is the cost of the adoption agency. An adoption agency will help you complete the paperwork involved with an adoption, complete your home study and usually match you up with a child. Agencies generally have two different fee structures. Some charge a single fee that covers everything. Others charge a minimal agency fee, but charge separately for home study, child matching and other services. The fees can range anywhere from $500 to nearly $40,000.

• Travel—In most instances, you will have to travel somewhere to bring your baby home. If you are adopting domestically (within the United States), you may travel to meet the prospective birth mother, and you will likely travel again when the child is born. Furthermore, federal law requires that, when a child from one state is adopted by parents from another state, both states must approve the adoption before the child may go home with adoptive parents.

  Most foreign countries require at least one appearance in the child’s home country before you can bring the child home.

• Other expenses—With a domestic adoption, there can be a lot of expenses for the biological mother that you’ll either be asked to pay or want to pay, including prenatal care, counseling, utilities and other bills. You may also have to pay for background checks. With international adoptions, you will have all costs associated with bringing your child through immigration and naturalization.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

At the law office of Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC, our lawyers bring more than 25 years of experience to every matter we handle. Attorney Donald C. Cofsky has personally handled more than 1,500 adoption proceedings since joining the bar in 1974. Attorney Bruce D. Zeidman has protected the interests of clients in state and federal courts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania since 1984. We understand the challenges you face, and can help you identify all your options so that you can make good decisions that are in your best long-term interests.

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.