Funding in Full Effect

This is a hard one for me to write. I am not good at asking for help, especially financially. We have worked very hard to be independent and self sufficient, but we need help. We will not be able to have our dream come true without the help and support of our friends, family and complete strangers along the way.

We learned pretty close to day one that adoption is expensive. Even before meeting with agencies and doing research we discovered that this would likely cost between $40,000-60,000 when all said and done. And that is not at all far from the mark. Though different agencies had different pay schedules the final result was all about the same. This is a very scary number and if we look at the small picture it is. But when we pray about it and talk to friends, family, and supporters we realize that this is a God thing, that the number on a scale may be large but in the grand scheme of things it is nothing. It took us a while to really trust that when the funds are needed, God will make it happen.

With the hard work mentality that we have we are not solely relying on donations but also picking up side work where we can as well as started an online store where 100% of the profits will support this adoption. If you are local and need help cleaning, organizing, designing, building, cooking or anything else that may be up our alley, please contact us. If you are far away and can use virtual help with anything, please contact us.

The schedule along with the fees are explained as best I can below.

Step 1: Home study ($1,500-3,000) We are ready for this step and have the funds set aside. This process is a bit lengthy but once complete it is only good for 365 days so we have to play timing right on this. We do not want to schedule it until we are close to getting our phase 1 payment. Reason being is that we cannot even join the marketing effort to birth mothers until this payment is made so we do not want to waste time on our completed home study while we fundraise. Though the process once we pay phase 1 can be short, it could also take a year or more to find a match.

Step 2: Phase 1 payment ($14,800) This covers the preliminary and administrative services by the agency. It also covers our marketing services fee. When working with this agency we will need to complete a profile and this will be marketed via social media and other platforms to birth mothers across the country. These birth mothers will have access to all the families on the site to select from and source the best match for her unborn baby. This fee is due the day we sign the contract with the agency. Nothing starts until this is paid.

Step 3: Birth Mother Trust ($4,000-6,000) A birth mother will select our family and after we are all in agreement this is a good match our family will be responsible for her living and medical expenses during the pregnancy. This fund is set up as a trust and is monitored by the agency as to appropriate distribution and use.

Step 4: Phase 2 payment ($12,800) This covers fundamental readying, legal analysis, adoption services and fees. Once the birth mother match is made and we are all on the same page, this fee is due.

Step 5: Baby is born, though there is not a specific fee for this step we will need to travel on short notice to wherever the baby is located in order to finalize the process and take him or her home with us!

Step 6: Legal fees ($7,000-15,000) This fee is entirely a range at this point. We will need to hire a legal team in whichever state the baby is born. This team will draw up all legal adoption papers and transition of custody. The price ranges based off of the location of the babies birth.

As you can see, on the low end we are looking at a total expense of $40,100 with the potential upwards expense of $51,600 not including travel expenses. Also note none of this covers any of the baby essentials such as cribs, diapers, food, clothing etc.

We could not be more excited and thrilled about this experience. We hope that our journey not only teaches you but inspires you. God is good and through him all things are possible.

Now that we are moving forward and officially on the road to bringing a baby home I’ll be writing more frequently with updates and new things we have learned along the way.

Check out our GoFundMe page and donate if you can. Even if you could donate a few dollars per week, it could have a huge impact on our overall goal.

If you have other ideas for fundraising please reach out, we are willing to try anything!