As promised -and looking more hopeful- the cost breakdown that includes some grants from the agencies. We still have lots of work to do! Now that our dossier was logged into China last week we were able to send some questions so we can get an update! We look forward to sharing it with you in about 2-3 weeks! Thank you all for checking in and thank you to those who have helped us get closer to bringing Gabriel home!

ITEMIZATION OF ADOPTION COSTS

-CATHOLIC CHARITIES AS OUR HOME STUDY AGENCY-

New Home study, facilitation, and 3 post-placement visits for Maryland is $4,900. 

Agency provided an additional discount of $1200 (AMF internal grant). TOTAL OF $3700.

-HOLT INTERNATIONAL AS OUR ADOPTION AGENCY & PAPERWORK-

Application Fee $300 

This fee covers the cost to review the application & determine the best direction

 to take with the adoption process.

U.S. Processing Fee (WAS $3,000 & Holt just discounted it to $1,500) 

The processing fee covers Holt's cost to facilitate the adoption with agency & government officials in the US & China.

Processing expenses for Holt include – but are not limited to – personnel costs, administrative overhead, operational costs, staff training & education, communications & publications costs.

 This fee also covers registration & translation costs related to submitting your dossier.

Medical Evaluation ($300)

Child’s records evaluated by an international adoption medical doctor.

Document Processing Fee

Discounted from $600 to $150 because not as much preparation is required by reusing our previous dossier so soon.

Holt staff will assist in obtaining vital records needed for the dossier & 

have the documents certified as required by county, state, federal & foreign governments. They will also make necessary photocopies & mount photographs required for your dossier. This does not cover fees charged by gov’t offices to certify 

the documents nor the cost to mail documents via Federal Express or priority mail.

Adoption Program Fee

CHINA IS $7,860 (includes special focus child discount of $2,000 and internal SNAF grant of $1,200) 


The adoption program fee helps cover the cost to facilitate the adoption in CHINA. This includes, but is not limited to, costs for personnel, administrative overhead, training, education, legal services & communications, working with gov’t & 

agency authorities, legal fees, & passport & visa fees. It also covers costs related to the care of our child prior to 

adoption, including – but not limited to – costs for food, clothing, shelter, medical care, foster care, orphanage care, & 

any other services provided directly to our child. It also includes any mandatory donations required by child welfare authorities. This fee may also cover child welfare projects in China.

Dossier Preparation $500-$1000
(Est at $900) 

The home study & dossier process requires families to obtain official copies of documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates & divorce decrees. Some countries require that these & other documents go through a process of notarization, certification & authentication before being submitted. Fingerprinting and FedEx included.

-TRAVEL AGENCY-

USCIS application $720 

All U.S. families must receive approval from U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) before bringing a child to

 the U.S. for adoption. USCIS requires families pay an application fee, fingerprinting fee &, in some cases, 

a renewal or change fee.

Travel expenses $3,000-$15,000


(FOR OUR LAST TRIP, TRAVEL & HOTEL COST US APPROX. $9,900 PLUS EXPENSES IN CHINA, 

WILL ESTIMATE IT AT $13,000 FOR TWO THIS TIME BUT HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING JUST YET).  

Travel expenses vary greatly depending on the number of trips required, the number of people in our travel party, &

 the time of year that we travel. These expenses include airfare, lodging, meals & ground transportation, and visa’s. This expense will be lower if we decide that only one person will go to China (it will be more than half).

Total for Home Study: $3,700

Total for Holt International: $11,010

Estimated Total for Travel: $13,720 *

-Total cost for adoption: $28,430-

Cost to give a child a home: PRICELESS!

*Travel is close to half of the cost at this point because the grants we have received so far are from the agencies to 

be applied to their fees. Momma is going while Dadda stays home with Anthony 

but we are hoping to find someone to go with Momma as it's a tough trip to do alone!