Cost

How much did your kid cost?

We hate this question. And we know that we'll be asked it throughout Jonas's life by people who just don't know any better. Our child doesn't cost anything. He is priceless! But the "shipping and handling" fees involved with an international adoption are anything but free.

Why does adoption cost so much? Well, that's a complicated question. There are a lot of people, agencies, companies, and governments involved in the process. Some of this is for the child's well-being and safety. Some of this is to make sure the adoption is ethical and legal. And travel expenses add to the overall price as well.

No, it's not fair that adoption costs so much. And we do find some of the fees to be quite outrageous, such as our agency's $22,000 Kyrgyzstan Program Fee and $780 for the I-600A form. But if we want to grow our family in this way, it's part of the deal. And it's more unfair that there are children in orphanages without parents right now!

In the interest of transparency, as well as to provide helpful information for prospective adoptive parents, below is a breakdown of the costs involved with our adoption. These are listed in the order we paid them.

Cost	To/From Who	For What	Status
$1000	Nightlight Adoption Agency	Home Study Initial Payment	Paid
$1500	Nightlight Adoption Agency	Home Study Final Payment	Paid
$82	FBI	Background Check	Paid
$425	Colorado Adoption Consultants	Required Core Training	Paid
$170	Red Cross	First Aid/CPR Training	Paid
$25	Amazon	Required Reading Books	Paid
$500	Nightlight Adoption Agency	International Application Fee	Paid
$40	Notary	Notarization of Dossier Documents	Paid
$80	CO Secretary of State	Apostilles on Dossier Documents	Paid
$1500	Nightlight Adoption Agency	Kyrgyz Initial Program Fee	Paid
$80	Counties	Birth/Marriage Certificate Copies	Paid
$780	Dept. of Homeland Security	I-600A Orphan Petition Form	Paid
$170	Dept. of Homeland Security	Biometrics (Fingerprinting)	Paid
$170	Lutheran Family Services	Home Study State Approval	Paid
$6000	Nightlight Adoption Agency	Dossier Registration Phase Program Fee	Paid
$1500	Translator	Dossier Translation	Paid
$56	Nightlight Adoption Agency	Dossier Shipment	Paid
$6000	Nightlight Adoption Agency	Referral Phase Program Fee	Paid
$4295	Airlines	Flights for Meeting/Bonding Visit	Paid
$40	Super Shuttle	Transportation to Airport	Paid
$535	Hotel Futuro	Hotel for First Visit	Paid
$900	In-Country Coordinator	Driver for First Visit	Paid
$95	Notary in Kyrgyzstan	Power of Attorney for 2nd Visit	Paid
$300	Restaurants	Food for First Visit (approximate)	Paid
$450	Dog Sitters	Molly Watching for First Visit	Paid
$8000	Nightlight Adoption Agency	Court Phase Program Fee	Paid
$1011	Airlines	Flight for Court Visit	Paid
$75	Dog Sitter	Molly Watching for Second Visit	Paid
$119	Hotel Futuro	Hotel for Second Visit	Paid
$76	Nightlight Adoption Agency	Apostille/Shipping for I-171H Form	Paid
$250	In-Country Coordinator	Driver for Second Visit	Paid
$100	Restaurants	Food for Second Visit (approximate)	Paid
$2647	Airlines	Flights for Final Visit	Paid
$300	Dog Sitter	Molly Watching for Third Visit	Paid
$115	Hotel Futuro	Hotel for Third Visit (Bishkek-Tokmok)	Paid
$480	Ambassador Hotel	Hotel for Third Visit (Bishkek)	Paid
$387	Grand Hotel Tien-Shan	Hotel for Third Visit (Almaty)	Paid
$65	Hotel	Hotel for Coordinator (Almaty)	Paid
$228	Kyrgyz Concept Travel Agency	Hotel for Third Visit (Lake Issyk-Kul)	Paid
$230	Kyrgyz Concept Travel Agency	Transportation to/from Lake Issyk-Kul	Paid
$45	Bank of America	Wire Transfer Fee to Travel Agency	Paid
$100	In-Country Coordinator	Driver for Adoption Day	Paid
$125	In-Country Coordinator	Driver to/in Almaty	Paid
$500	In-Country Coordinator	Assistance with Visa in Almaty	Paid
$500	Restaurants	Food for Third Visit (approximate)	Paid
$325	US Embassy	Child's Immigrant Visa	Paid
$100	International Medical Clinic	Child's Medical Visit	Paid
$300	Various/ICC	Orphanage Gifts/Donation	Paid
$182	Denver Airport	Car Parking for Third Visit	Paid
$10	Kyrgyz Embassy	Embassy Registration	Paid
$1600	Nightlight Adoption Agency	Prepayment for Post-Placement Visits	Paid
$93	Nightlight Adoption Agency	6 Month Visit Apostille and Shipping	Paid
$95	Nightlight Adoption Agency	1 Year Visit Apostille and Shipping	Paid
$167	CO Juvenile Court	Foreign Validation of Adoption	Paid
$44,918	See All Above	Total Adoption Cost	Paid
-$10,000	Accenture	Employer Adoption Assistance	Refunded
-$5500	Family	Tax Deductible Donation	Refunded
$29,418		Out of Pocket Total Adoption Cost	Paid
-$13,400	US Government	Tax Refund	Refunded
$16,018		Out of Pocket Total Adoption Cost	Paid
$3900	Various Doctors/Hospitals	2015 Medical Expenses (Out of Pocket Maximum for Insurance)	Paid
$19,918		Total Out of Pocket Adoption Cost Including Initial Medical Expenses	Paid