Adoption Details

Today we want to write about a few of the important details we've ironed out concerning our adoption--agency, type (domestic vs international) and cost structure. It's a lot, so sit tight!

Agency

We found the adoption agency for us after many months of prayer and searching. A Step Ahead Adoption is a small consultancy (run by two people!) with 13 years experience specializing in intra-state adoption. We're working with Diane Hogan, the founder of A Step Ahead. She opened her consultancy after adopting her two children and dealing with the frustration of working with agencies whose employees, although they meant well, had no idea what it was like to adopt themselves. A Step Ahead values our opinions and allows us to control a lot more of the process. Thank the Lord for helping us find an organization in whom we have tons of confidence!

Type

We initially had no idea what intra-state adoption meant, so maybe you don't either. Basically, A Step Ahead maintains relationships with more than 40 adoption agencies all over the US.  When these agencies have children to place, they contact Diane and she consults with her clients (us) to discover whether or not it's a good fit. Throughout this process, A Step Ahead works with their adoptive families to accomplish adoption prep such as the home study, education requirements, etc. This strategy works well for military families like ourselves who have difficulty balancing long wait times at traditional agencies and the constant possibility of a move. Because A Step Ahead works across state lines, we never have to worry about paying some fees all over again just because the AF moved us.  That also means we could eventually adopt from Oregon, Vermont, or anywhere in between!

Cost Structure

Another reason we signed on with A Step Ahead is because it allowed us to have at least some control over the cost of our adoption. For those of you who don't already know, adoption services are really expensive! After interviewing an array of agencies, we found that infant domestic adoption can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000! Here's a break down of the average cost structure:

     $1,000 - Pre-adoption Training Fee and Formal Application Fee
     $3,000 - Adoptive Family Assessment Fee (Home Study)
     $2,000 - Initial Birth Parent Counseling Fee
     $2,000 - Initial Birth Parent Expense and Outreach
     $17,000 - Child Placement Fee

     Total - $25,000

A Step Ahead gives us some control by allowing us to set a cost ceiling.  In other words, they won't contact us about a potential placement unless the fees meet our budget.

Overwhelming?  No way!

Welcome

From the start.  We were married in beautiful downtown La Crosse, WI on Aug 22, 2008, just next to the mighty Mississippi. We've spent the last four years exploring Colorado from our base of operations in Colorado Springs, where Sean works as an active duty officer in the Air Force and Emily is a Rural Educator and Advocate on behalf of a local Non-Profit serving victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

In Aug of 20l0, we discovered Emily was pregnant. After the initial surprise, we got right down to it. No more fish, lots of prenatal vitamins, and stretchy pants. Our little boy, who we named Theodore, was born on St. Patrick's Day the following year. What a beautiful guy he was! Sadly, a number of congenital defects combined to take his life 24 days later on 10 Apr 2011. We've been to a geneticist with Denver Children's Hospital twice in an attempt to figure out why all this happened, but don't know anything conclusive yet.

Our short time with Theo reminded us both how precious (and precarious) life is. We knew we still wanted children, but we also knew that it would be too difficult to try again ourselves until we had more information about the odds of it happening a second time. What about adoption? We were friends with two couples already who had begun the process. After lots of thought, prayer and some invaluable mentoring, we made the choice together to make adopting a child a personal and financial priority.

We'd like to invite you, our family and friends, to join us on this journey. Our intent is to share with you our every step through the adoption process on this blog. You can share with us too. Leave a comment, say a prayer, make a donation; everything helps. 


Thank you!