Danny,

I can speak to the expence of adopting from China.  And these fees will vary by the agency. Here is my breakdown

Application fee: $250

Agency fee: $3,250

China fees: $7,450 (includes orphanage donation of $3000, registrations fees, facilitator’s fee, updates, all adoption fees in China, notarizations, passport fee, etc)

Total $10,950

You also need a homestudy -- which depending on where you live in the country, it could cost from $700 to $1000.

Immigration fees: about $550 for the I600a, I can’t remember how much I had to pay in China to get the visa-- ($200 to $300 maybe?).

All of the documents that are sent to China (I had 10) had to be notoraized (this can be free at a bank), certified by the state (in MO it is $10 per document) and authenticated by the Chinese consulate ($20 per document).

Then there are misc. FedEx fees (you always send adoption documents by trackable mail)

And the last is travel -- you must travel to China. You can get a coach ticket right now for about $800; hotel there probably averages $80/night (12-14 nights on average); food (real cheap); etc

The good news is that the federal government has a $10,000 tax credit for any type of adoption. There are organizations out there that will give grants, interest free loans, low interest loans. 

It is always hard to predict how long it would take someone to put their paperwork together. You must have 4 visits with the social worker. And once the homestudy is complete it must be sent to immigration and all adults in the household (18 and older) must get an FBI fingerprint check. This step can take 2-months, depending on what office you use. Right now, for a non-special needs adoption, once your paperwork is in China, you will get a referral 6 to 8 months later. Special needs and older children are expidited.

I started my process the beginning of January. My paperwork was sent to China on June 24th -- but it took a month longer than it should have because I had a notoray who didn’t know how to notorize and it took 3 trips to the Sec of State office! I am hoping to travel before the end of the year.

Hope this helps. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

Warm regards,

Janet