Adoption cost

Do you know how much adoption costs?

A lot.

A whole lot.

Like, think of a number and then double it. Maybe triple it.

We are talking more money than I currently make in a year.

The average cost of adoption is about $20-25,000 either domestic or international. Some people end up paying $40-50,000! yowzahs! Ouch!

The current option we are pursuing is going to cost us about $35,000. Pocket change, right?

I am starting to wonder if people with our income do this. I guess I know that they do, but ouch! Where does that money come from? The federal tax credit will help. Hopefully end up paying for almost half, but we still have to front the money until we get the tax credit. And then there is the other half....
It just doesn't seem right to charge a baby on a credit card. The American way? Not for us. Eli would kill me. :) We are trying to get out of debt, not drown ourselves in more.

Grants? There are quite a few organizations that offer grant money for those in need. Here is a good list. We cannot apply until we have our home study though.... Well along our way into the process.... already committed to paying the exorbitant amount of money. How do you commit to something when you don't know where the money is going to come from? But you can't apply for the grants until you commit....What is up with that?
And then when you really start looking at the grant programs, there are quite a few that have pretty narrow eligibility criteria i.e. certain religious affiliations. Same with low/no interest loan programs.
Other options: home equity loans (what home equity?), borrowing against your 401K (not much there either), employee benefits (already checked that one - no), savings accounts (hm, that won't get us very far), fund raisers....now maybe that is an option. More thoughts on that one coming soon.

But really, one wonders, can we really afford to adopt? Why are we trying to do this when we can have our own? The answer is pretty simple to both questions. We can't afford to adopt a baby on our own. We need help. Be it grants, help from friends and family, low interest loans. Us adopting a baby is not just about us building our own immediate family. It is about helping out the world (I think, at least in my small view of things), and it is about bringing another person into our large family, including friends and extended family. We all benefit, right? And the answer to the second question is, it is just in our hearts, it is what we really, really want to do and it just feels right. But we can't do it on our own. We need help. Be it advice, contacts, emotional support, financial support, we need it all.
Thanks.