Finalization

You get to the step of finalization. So lets walk through the steps.

• Step 1: Paperwork – Background Checks, Health Checks, Credit Checks, etc.
• Step 2: Home Study – Normally 3 visits. If a husband and wife are adopting, one visit with both parents, one visit with the husband and one visit with the wife.
• Step 3: Go active – This is the waiting game. You either wait on the Biological Mother to choose you or you wait on the State to choose you as the parent.
• Step 4: Matched with the child or perspective parent.
• Step 5: Consent by the biological mother and father
• Step 6: Follow-up visit typically by the Home Study provider.
• Step 7: Finalization

Now what is Step 7? You have the child in your custody and now is the hearing. In our case, we had the mothers consent but the father was out of the picture. We put in the local paper of the father a newspaper clipping that had all of the legal ease about the child being born and asking for him to step forth. He didn't. Our attorney filed that with the court. After that we went back and forth with the judge for a while. Then we had our hearing. We went into the courtroom and the judge called us back to his office. We signed the papers in his office, took some pictures and off we went. After all was said and done it was a let down. No struggle at all.

I tell you this story to remind you that to enjoy the journey at this point. You are at your end. You as parents have the child and you have done everything in your power to get to this point. Let the attorney do his job and take it easy. You are at the end of the line. The child will take your name and off you go.

Adoption Grants

There are also a number of Grants available. We did not use these but its worth a try. Also don't forget to check with your work for Adoption benefits.

The Boatner Family Foundation- This foundation provides grants from $1,000 up to $10,000. They require an agency approval, a financial statement, and a formal application. Contact: The Boatner Foundation, P.O. Box 132272 , The Woodlands, Texas 77393-2272.

The Gift of Adoption Fund- The Gift of Adoption Fund provides financial assistance to moderate- and low-income families seeking to adopt. Preference will be given to those applicants who are experiencing extraordinary hardship. Examples would include medical special needs on the part of the child and/or situational hardship on the part of the parents or the child. Homestudy must be completed. Grants are available in amounts up to $5,000. For more information, visit the Gift of Adoption Fund Web site or call 262-268-1386. $20 application fee.

God’s Grace Adoption Ministries- Offers grants to two-parent, Christian families who make less than $60,000 a year. The grants are between $1,000 and $4,000, with $2,000 being the average amount given. A $10 application fee is charged.

Home for Good- Grants given to families adopting older children, special needs children, sibling groups, and other hard to place children. This grant program works with partner churches. Grant amounts vary depending on the situation and need.

Open Arms Children’s Charities- Open Arms gives grants twice a year, on January 15 and on June 15 and they do not limit who they help by marriage, adoption program, religion or any other factor. They are open to all adoption situations, and their only requirement is that a homestudy is complete. A $15 application fee is charged.

Brittany’s Hope Foundation- Brittany’s Hope does not give grants to adoptive parents, however they place grants on waiting children, especially children that have special needs, from a variety of countries. Grants up to $7,500 for a single child and $10,000 for a sibling group have been assigned. You can see waiting children on the Brittany’s Hope website.

Caroline’s Promise- These grants are only available to North Carolina families who have a completed homestudy and are using a licensed agency. Grants are given between $3,000 and $5,000.

Fore Adoption Foundation- Grants and educational grants are available to families adopting children from the United States. Grants can be used for agency fees, attorney fees, birth mother expenses, etc. Families must have a completed homestudy and a pending adoption to apply. A $20 application fee is required.

His Kids Too!- The His Kids, Too! grant program is open 3 times a year for new applications. New applications are accepted August 1 – 31, December 1 – 31, and April 1-30. Applications are sent from His Kids, Too! via e-mail on the first date of the acceptance period, till the 15th of the month. No applications are sent via U.S. postal service, only via internet. Applications are given a 30 day review period starting when they are received, but final decisions are not made until the end of the acceptance period. For parent(s) adopting international children, His Kids, Too! provides an adoption grant of up to $2000 for one child, and up to $4000 for 2 children. Grants are paid directly to the agency or facilitation service (for independent adoptions, grants approved on a case-by-case basis).

Sea of Faces Foundation- Grants are available to Christian, heterosexual couples, with a completed homestudy and who are working with a licensed and accredited agency. Grants are given up to $5,000 and are given in the months of March, June, September and December. Families must have a referral before grants is given. A $5 donation is requested at time of application.

Shaohannah’s Hope- Grants are available to families using any licensed and accredited agency, but priority is given to those that are using one of the agencies listed on the website. Homestudy must be complete at time of application and the application is done on-line. This is a Christian organization.

Adoption loans

By far the number one help to adoptive couples is the federal tax credit. We used a home equity line of credit to fund ours. But what other loans are available. Try the list below.

1.

ADOPTION NETWORK LAW CENTER

www.adoptionnetwork.com
1-800-FOR-ADOPT

Adoption Network Law Center makes available credit based adoption loans up to $50,000 with repayment terms from 24 to 84 months. Interest rates start at 9.99% and they offer same-day decisions on loan applications. You can apply online at:

http://adoptionnetwork.com/adoptiveparents/credit-based-adoption-loans.shtml

2.

ABBA Fund

http://www.abbafund.org/

P. O. Box 78800

Charlotte, NC 28271-7042

The ABBA Fund provides interest-free covenant loans to Christian couples who are called by God to expand their families through adoption and who need help with the "cash flow crunch" posed by adoption expenses.

3.

IVF FINANCING

www.ivffinance.com
P.O. Box 2374

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32004

1-888-285-9871

IVF Financing is a loan program offered through Medical Business Solutions. Medical Business Solutions offers unsecured adoption loans, as well as home equity loans. Medical Business Solutions is a general lending company, so they have a wide variety of home equity loan options, including programs for people with credit problems. You can apply online at https://www.ivffinance.com/localivffsignup.html

4.

A Child Waits Foundation

http://www.achildwaits.org/

866 999-2445 (866 999-child)

FAX: 518 794-6243

1136 Barker Rd, Pittsfield, MA 01201

cnelson@achildwaits.org

The foundation provides low interest loans for families who have exhausted other financial options and could not proceed with their adoption without additional help. The foundation will loan $10,000 or up to 50% of the cost of the adoption, whichever is less, with a repayment term of no more than five years. The adoptive parents must provide the initial funds to adopt. They must be working with an adoption agency licensed in the state of operation, and if approved, funds will be dispersed just prior to finalization of the international adoption. Eligibility is based upon both financial need and credit history

5.

MBNA
www.mbna.com
1-888-844-3775

MBNA Gold Option is a term line of credit up to $25,000 with repayment terms from 36 to 72 months. The variable interest rate is based upon credit history and will range from a minimum of 9.24% to a high of 25.24%.

Apply online: https://www1.fni-stl.com/cgi-bin/mbnaloannet.pl?form&track=mbnago05

6.

LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS

http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/

PO Box 40

202 N. Ford St

Gridley, IL 61744

309-747-3556

info@lifesongfororphans.org

Lifesong for Orphans encourages Christian couples to adopt a child by relieving some of the financial burden of international and domestic adoption. They offer Interest-Free Loans and Matching grants.

7. This loan program is no longer in place...sorry for the inconvenience.

8.

OXFORD ADOPTION FOUNDATION

www.oxfordadoption.com
4309 Crayton Road

Naples, FL 34103

239-430-6240

Oxford offers no interest or low interest loans for international adoptions, based upon financial need. Oxford will generally lend up to $5,000 per child, up to a maximum of $10,000. The typical loan terms are 0% interest for the first three years, 3% interest for the next three years, and 6% interest for the final three years, for a maximum loan term of nine years. Adoptive parents should try to obtain funds from all other sources before contacting Oxford, as they lend only the final amount of money necessary to complete the adoption where all other financial resources have been exhausted.

Birth Moms

From what I have seen of the adoption world, there are two kinds of birth moms. Either they are teens to early 20's and find themselves pregnant or they are 20's to 30's with multiple kids and this child is unexpected and they can't really afford it. So you are matched with a birth mom who probably hasn't made the best decisions to date. You schedule a call and they don't show up. You don't know why and a thousand things pop in your head. Are they backing out? Have they decided to keep the baby? Is she alive? Is the baby alive? Did I say something wrong at an earlier meeting and now they don't like me? Did they choose another couple? Your mind goes places that it should not. In actuality the girl is absent minded. Doesn't keep a good track of time and the first good decision that she has made lately has been to adopt her baby. Adoption is sometimes crazy. My cousin had an adoption where the birth mother backed out and decided to keep the child. She had the birth mom's number and called her. The birth mom's family had decided to keep the child. She talked with the birth mom and after realizing that my cousin was not an axe murderer and she was going to be responsible and raise the child correctly. They decided to go forward with the adoption and now my cousin has had the baby for 12 months.

So what to do? Keep a clear mind. Reschedule your meeting. If you can talk with the birth mom do so. Some agencies don't do this but some will. Remain positive because you don't want panic to show up on your calls with the birth mom. Remember that things will get better. Its a long road but there is an end to it.

Birth Mother Expenses

Is it legal for a couple who is looking to adopt to pay for birth mother expenses? The answer is Yes it is legal. The expenses should be reasonable such as rent, utilities, etc. It is reasonable that a birth mom could have expenses that would keep her from working. In our adoption, we paid for a cell phone for the birth mom because that was our only means of communication with her. She was out of state and that helped us. We bought a prepaid phone so that we control the expenses and are not left with a bill later on. If possible, pay these as you go and get the paperwork associated with the bill, phone bill, power bill, gas bill, etc.

Some agencies will ask you to come up with a budget where you have "at risk" money. The "at risk" money is for birth moms who decide to keep the baby after you have already paid some of those expenses. You as a couple will have to decide what the amount you are willing to put up "at risk". Adoptions interrupt all the time and you might lose it. Be aware. I would suggest a lot of communication with the birth mom. The more she knows that you are the couple for her child, the more comfortable she will be that adoption is the right decision for her and her child.

Being Open

So you want to adopt. You even have the first bit of paperwork for registering and the questions comes up. What are you willing to accept? Are you willing to accept multiples? What about race of the child? What about where the parents were alcoholics? Drug addicts? Male or Female? Let me tell you the questions sometimes make your mind swim. The real answer here is try to be as open as possible. Remember that you as the parents have the last word. You can turn down any situation presented. I've posted earlier about different kinds of adoptions like open, semi-open or closed. How much contact with the birth moms are you willing to accept? The more open you are the more situations you are presented which will speed things along for you. A lot of people fear the race of the child. When you think about race, ask yourself if the woman in the picture was disappointed when he came along.

New Direction

As for me and my house we are moving on. We are waiting for our homestudy to be approved by the County DFACS. What was supposed to be 4 weeks has turned into 12 weeks and we are moving on. We are pursuing an adoption agency in Macon, GA called Covenant Care Adoptions. They come suggested from a friend and so we are now filling out the paperwork. We have somewhat of a jumpstart because we already completed our fingerprints and have the septic tank inspected, etc.. Their first class starts in August. So we trusting God and waiting until August. Please pray for me and my family.