Here are a few questions that I've received that I thought I'd answer.
1. Are we still trying to have our own biological children?
Yes, of course, we are still "trying", but at this point, that basically means that we are doing nothing to prevent it from happening, as has been the case for the past 5 years (will officially be 5 years this March). At times, we have done temperature charting, ovulation monitors, and I've been on clomid (a type of medicine that aids in ovulation, was on 50 mg and then 100 mg) for about 6 months of that time period with no results.
2. Are we going to try any infertility treatments?
Yes and no.
We do plan on trying the IUI procedure once, just to say that we have tried it. The cost for this procedure is right under $1000. Basically, they put me on clomid, monitor my egg growth and release, take numerous blood draws, and when the time is right, they would artificially inseminate me through a catheter. Sounds romantic, right? haha
We had planned on doing this procedure soon after our appointment at the fertility doctor last November, but because of my gall bladder issues, they wouldn't let us do any of that until that was taken care of. Right now, we are in the midst of getting that set up. Due to the fact that things have to be timed exactly right, we didn't want to schedule them on days when we would be gone to Virginia.
We do not, however, have any plans of moving forward after that. IVF is just too expensive and invasive for us. It's right for some people, but for us, we would rather use that money to adopt.
3. Does our insurance cover infertility treatments?
A big fat NO! Our insurance will cover diagnostic testing, but does not cover a single cent of any infertility treatments. Not even the clomid. :(
4. How much does an adoption cost?
Adoption costs all vary depending on what type of adoption you are doing.
International can be pretty expensive, but that is due to the massive amounts of paperwork, called a dossier, and traveling that you must do. These can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 and sometimes more. Also, there is always the chance that after getting a lot of money into adopting from a certain country, that country will then close the adoption rights and your adoption will fall through. Some countries will lesson the adoption fee for hard to place children.
Domestic infant adoptions are expensive and can range from $5,000 to $40,000. I would say the average cost would be around $25,000. The expenses differ depending on what type of adoption you do. There are agency adoptions, independent adoptions, attorney adoptions, etc. The major risk of these would be the birthmother/father deciding after the baby is born to parent the baby. Also, because most states allow it, the adoptive parents normally have to pay for some living expenses of the birthparents. If they do change their mind after the baby is born, most of that money is then lost.
Foster care adoptions can cost between $0-$5,000. Many of these children are hard to place children, meaning children who are older than 8, have siblings, or have medical issues. With these adoptions, the children normally have lots of emotional issues and there is normally an issue with the parent's rights. They prefer to place these children with people that are older and have had parenting experience.
5. What is a home study?
A home study is the first thing you need to do in order to adopt. It's basically a document which states that you are capable of providing for a child. For ours, we had to do tons of paperwork, some of which included employers letters stating where we worked, an application, information on our finances, proof of our marriage, birth certificates, and the list goes on. Also, we had to complete a physical, proving that we didn't have any health conditions keeping us from adopting, we had to have numerous background checks done, we had to have multiple references, we had to sign agreements stating that we had not been arrested for any reason, and numerous of other things . Dave and I had to complete a paper on our history and reasons for adopting. These had to be typed and had to answer four pages of questions given to us by our social worker. When we were finished, Dave's paper was 10 pages long and mine was 12. Pretty crazy stuff. We also had our social worker come to our house to make sure our home was suitable for children and we had an interview with her.
Our home study started in late September and was completed the first week in November. Ours went by pretty quickly due to the fact that we were going to be adopting K's baby is October.
Home study costs can range from about $1000 to $2000. Ours was a gift from a family here in Florida that has known of our desire to have a family. We are SOO grateful to them for providing this for us!!!
6. Did we have to have a baby's room ready for our home study?
No, we did not, and I am very thankful for that. Yes, I want to get a room together, but having a prepared room and it staying empty would not be much fun. We do, however, have a few things here at the house in case we get a phone call about a baby that has already been born. We have an infant car seat, a pack-n-play, a baby bathtub, numerous toys, and a handful of baby outfits. We have friends that have a crib for us and another family that has a swing ready for us, when the time comes. We have been blessed by having friends that are willing to give us things for baby VBK.
7. What wait time are we looking at?
Once we finish up of family profile, our wait time could be anywhere between a couple of weeks to 2 years (or longer). When adopting through an agency (and most other venues), your name is not just put on a list and you move up a list as babies are placed. When a birthmother comes in, she is given multiple family profiles and she can decide on one of those. We will have to be "chosen" in order to adopt so it could take a while.
I hope this has answered some of your questions. Feel free to email me at jennifervbk@yahoo.com if you have any more. :)
Posts
