Funding the Adoptions

Adopting internationally costs a lot of money. In fact, China adoptions often cost the most financially, for a number of reasons.

One reason that China adoptions have so many fees is that China is part of the Hague Convention. As a part of this convention, there are stricter standards in place for which children are eligible to be adopted, as well as for the family that desires to adopt. The additional regulations mean that the cost associated with adopting a single child from China is roughly $30,000.

Since we are adopting a boy and a girl at the same time, we will not have to pay many of the fees twice. This should reduce our cost from $60,000 to about $40,000. In addition, both children that we are adopting are in the Special Focus program because of their significant health needs, which reduces some fees. Here is a breakdown of our total adoption costs:

1800 + 350 = $2150 Homestudy Fees

$250= Adoption Agency Application Fee

$7100= Adoption Agency Other Fees

$125 = CCCWA Service fees (child one)

$790= CCCWA fee (child one)

$855= Additional fees by CCCWA (second child)

$1200 = Special focus fee (second child)

$442.19= Passport fees- expedited

$60= Birth cert and marriage license fees

$890 + $720 (second child) =  $1610 USCIS Filing

~$1200= Dossier Prep (includes second child)

$200= Additional child Doc sealing

$6000 + $6400 = $12,400 (China Gov/Orphanage Fees)

~$1500 x 4 = $6000 (China Flight)

~$5000= In-China travel and Accommodations

~$800= In-China food

=~$40182.19

We have already paid roughly 17% of these fees:

$2150 (Home Study Fees) + $2600 (First agency fee) + $250 (CCCWA fees for two kids) + $1200 (Special Focus fee for second child) + $442.19 (passport applications) + $60 (marriage cert/birth cert requests)= $6827.19

Though $40,000 is a lot of money, Bill and I trust that God will provide the funds. That is why we are hoping to raise 80% of the money through various methods. We will be utilizing direct giving (http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/help-us-adopt-a-teenage-boy-and-a-girl-with-cerebral-palsy/278760), fundraising efforts (we'll be having a Give-Away soon!), and Reece’s Rainbow (http://reecesrainbow.org/85271/sponsorrobinson-6). Through these avenues, we have already raised almost $2,000. What a blessing!

We also recently were introduced to Touchstone Essential vitamins, so we are hoping to supplement our fundraising efforts by re-selling these products. To be honest, I had not heard of Touchstone Essentials until about two months ago, when a friend of mine suggested them for detoxing and pain relief. Since that time, I have been so impressed by these organic supplements. There are currently nine different products from this company and I have been using them all daily for the past mont. Not only do they use only organic ingredients, but they do not use strange methods to make their vitamins that other companies use (for example, the source of D3 in most vitamins is irradiated sheep's wool- ewe! (haha)). In any case, I love how my skin is looking younger and clearer, and how their “boost” supplement is giving me energy and burning calories. They also have awesome probiotics (Supergreens +D), which are helping with my wheat-sensitives. To more about Touchstone Essentials, you can visit my page at:

http://teamrobinson.mytouchstoneessentials.com

I make a 5% commission on these supplements (15% if I have 10 new customers in one month) and every penny will go towards our adoption to bring these two kiddos home. Also, any purchase of products from me in the month of December qualifies me to earn an additional 15% in all future months!  If you are local, I can also buy wholesale and sell to you retail, so my portion goes up to 20%. 

Here's our son, again! We can't get enough of his sweet face!

Thanks for reading and sharing! I will be sure to keep the blog updated to let everyone know how our fundraising efforts are going.