The Cost of Adoption

         The 2012 Lexus GX 450  starting price $53,260

Now many people have asked me about the cost of adoption.  They usually say,"isn't it expensive" or "How much does it cost to buy a child?"  Well, first of all, we did not buy a child.  We paid fees for every step of the process of adopting a child.  The placement agency has a fee for their services. The home study was done for a fee.  The USCIS has a cost for their investigation (immigration).  The flights to China had a cost.  The Marriott Chongqing is a 5 star hotel and came with a breakfast buffet that was spectacular.  And, we paid for every meal.  Yes, their are fees on the China side as well.  I may not agree with all the fees, but I paid them. Total cost for an international adoption from
china is about $ 28,000.

Now, as most of America, we spend money on what we must,  like health care, insurance, food, clothing, shelter, utilities, our cars, childcare, and tithe to our church.  Then there are the things we want like a swimming pool, phones, music, cable TV, mp3 players, computers, Internet, video games, a gardener, and what ever is the latest toy, fast food, going out to dinner, the movies, special classes/clubs and hobbys for the kids like Chinese language, pledge, dance, youth fellowship, sports like soccer, basketball, football and taekwando.  Oh, and there is the cost of going to the fabric store, Ha Ha.  Everything has a price, a fee or a cost.  Some things we say "no" to like the newspaper.  and some things I do not agree with, like the cost of our electricity.   But every month, I choose to pay it, because I want electricity.

There is no doubt about it, life costs money.  Everything has a fee.  It does blow me away that a person can go and buy a new car like the Lexus shown above.  They pay $53,000- $59,000 and no one bats an eye.  We however, bought a one year old Toyota Sienna.  It cost  $ 22,000 had 20,000 miles on it.  So here is a plan, instead of the Lexus,  buy a Sienna, do the adoption and get the $12,000 tax reduction refund instead and you will be up $12,000.