From International Adoption: How to Choose a Country:

3. Compare and contrast cost and time commitments.

All international adoptions are expensive. You are working with agencies or facilitators in two countries, both of whom expect to be paid. You will also need to travel to bring your child home or pay the travel expenses for your child and his escort. No matter how you slice it, an international adoption is going to be expensive.

In addition to the agency fees, you need to factor in the costs associated with the time commitment of traveling. There is a big difference in cost between traveling for one week versus three or four. Flying to another country and living there for a while comes at the expense of drawing a paycheck at your job, and your mortgage and utility bills do not just go away when you leave the country. All of these costs need to be factored into the equation.

The cost of travel itself can be a huge expense. Traveling involves paying for a place to sleep, food, and numerous others expenses. All of these costs need to be considered. You should also look into the exchange rate for local currency because this can make a difference in the cost of adopting from one country versus another.

Some countries might require you to make more than one trip before finalizing the adoption. Additional trips add up to additional expenses.

If you adopt through an agency, the agency should provide you with an estimated total cost of adopting from each country. Talking to people who have adopted from each country is also a helpful way to find out about added expenses that you might not see coming.

Be sure to check out the blogs specific to different countries for more information about the cost of adopting from each country. Here are some posts that I found after doing a quick search:

• Ethiopia: The cost of an adoption


• Guatemala: Raise Some Dough!


• Haiti: Exploring Haiti Adoption Option


• Kazakhstan: Hidden Costs of International Adoption


• Korea: Financing Korean Adoptions


• Ukraine: Thinking About Adopting From Ukraine?

Related Topics:

• How to decide to adopt internationally



• How to evaluate adoption options



• How to Evaluate the Different Types of Adoption



• Choose a Country



• International Adoption blog