Adoption Cost Budget (and a spreadsheet!)

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Before I write a single word on the adoption cost associated with international adoption from Thailand, I want you to hear my heart. I am 100% coming from a place of encouragement and empowerment. We are pro-adoption and every child is worthy of pursuit, including the expenses involved with international adoption. These notes aren’t meant to discourage (because finances shouldn’t be a defining factor in you bringing your child home), but to give you a few budgeting tools to make your adoption journey easier to plan for, to track your expenses, and make the process a little less overwhelming.

This post thrills my soul a little more than it probably should, but we are talking spreadsheets and expenses today and it almost makes me want to start the adoption process all over again so I can use the handy adoption budget spreadsheet I created for you… almost. Keeping track of adoption costs may not thrill your soul like it does mine, but I’m hoping that it can at least be a great tool for you.

“Why do you need to track adoption costs?”

These were the exact words that came out of my husband’s mouth when I told him I was working on this. If you are wondering the same, I’ll give you a few reasons.

1. It’s fun. 🙂 That might just be me…
2. It’s informational. I like to know where my money is going and how much more is going to be gone in the future. This budget spreadsheet will allow you to see your past expenses and know how to budget for the ones you still have coming.
3. If you are like us and are going to be working to save / doing fundraisers / applying for grants, it’s helpful to know the end goal.
4. You are going to actually need to know these numbers before you meet your child. When you go to apply for your I800, the form will ask you about upcoming expenses you anticipate. That makes at least one form way less intimidating to fill out since you’ll already have those numbers at your fingertips.
5. And finally, you’ll need to know them for tax purposes. When all is said and done, as long as there is still some form of adoption tax credit in place, you will need to know how much you spent and how much is reimbursable.

For the record, I am neither a law nor tax professional. Make sure you do your homework and check in with both to cover all of your bases.

Costs and Expectations

I wish I had this information at my fingertips prior to beginning the process. I am nothing if not a planner and having this would have been like gold – to know what costs were coming and to be able to plan for them. Spreadsheets are a way of life for me and some of my best moments are chronicled in our Thailand adoption cost files. Thankfully, I am not the only one who shares this love and I was able to have 5 adoptive mama friends chime in on 8 separate Thailand adoption processes and their expenses. Everyone tracked costs differently, but I did my best to get you accurate numbers that reflected each experience.

Even between the 6 families represented who adopted from the same country and used the same adoption agency, our expenses varied by up to around $13,000. There are so many variables that are out of your control, including but not limited to the state where you live, the time of year you get to travel, and how long your process will take. We are still going to do our best to prepare you for what is to come.

Where do I start?

Your greatest resource and place to start if you are considering adoption is your actual adoption agency. Do your research! You are going to be working closely with this organization for the foreseeable future. You should be confident in their track record, history, and relationship with the country that you are hoping to adopt from.

Once that is in place, they should be able to recommend a home study service provider. I would recommend finding your adoption agency first to save some hassle and money. If you reverse the order, you may find that your home study isn’t accepted by your adoption agency.

These are the two organizations that you are going to be working with over the next few years and between them, you should be able to nail down some of your fixed costs and a range on your variable costs. These include…

• Adoption Agency Application Fee
• Home Study Application Fee
• Processing Fees
• Customs & Immigration Application
• + Extension (if needed)
• Adoption Program Fee
• Home Study Updates
• Child’s Visa
• Post Placement Visits
• Certificate of Citizenship

Start your adoption cost spreadsheet.

If you haven’t already started a spreadsheet or someway to track these expenses, be sure to as soon as possible! I know it doesn’t thrill everyone’s soul to know how much they spent on bottles of water while in country like it does mine, but you will need to have definitive answers on many of these expenses and tracking them early will save you time and headaches later.

To get you started, I’ve put together this beauty of a spreadsheet (if I do say so myself). It chronicles each expense, your budget vs. actual costs, whether you paid or if a 3rd party paid the expense, and the date it was paid. Your adoption agency and home study service provider should be able to give you a good idea of what to expect for your budget column on a good portion of your expenses. There is even a space to track some of those recurring adoption costs which can total themselves and insert into the master spreadsheet. Below you will find downloadable files (click the “download” button) for excel (if you prefer to track on your computer) or a pdf (if you prefer to write out your notes).

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On to some variable expenses…

Up next are those expenses that are bound to come, but vary wildly by state, providers, experiences, and choices along the way. Based on the 8 adoptions polled, these were the results. I did my best to give you the most accurate numbers based on the information that I had.

There will be other variables to consider as well depending on your circumstances. That list includes but is not limited to…

• Social Worker Gifts
• Animal Boarding
• Fundraiser Expenses
• Office Supplies (lots of ink & paper)
• Will you need to plan a trip in the US to finalize once your adoption is complete or do you live near a Thai Embassy?

What about travel expenses?

This was one of my biggest expense question marks, and I am afraid it will be for you too. You aren’t going to have a ton of notice to book your flights or know what time of year you’ll be traveling. You may be taking family members with you or may be traveling as a couple. You may decide to go a week early to soak up the culture or stay in country as short of a time as possible to start life as a new family at home. I can’t give you definite numbers here, but I can give you numbers based on our 8 total adoptions we polled. Just for travel expenses, our adoption trips ranged from $4,700 to $12,400, but there are so many variables going in to those numbers.

“Miscellaneous” includes everything from meals to groceries to in-country transportation to activities which will obviously vary depending on your choices.

Money & Time Saving Tips

I would love to sit down with you and have a personal conversation about all of this, but that is most likely not going to happen (although if you want to reach out to start a conversation, I’m more than happy to!). I am going to suggest a few things here, but please do your research and know that these are just my opinions based on my own experiences.

1. Start a spreadsheet. Seriously. Right now. I’ve already put one together for you – all you have to do is hit “download”. Track your Thailand adoption costs from day one and your life is going to be a whole lot easier. Each time an expense pops up, record it immediately and file those receipts.
2. Starting thinking ahead on your finances by opening a rewards credit card. If you know you have some big expenses coming up, this can be a huge help with your airfare. My husband and I flew for free and only paid for a return ticket for our son for our first adoption trip because of airline miles. I would NOT recommend doing this if you aren’t going to pay your card off every month because I can’t get behind credit card debt.
3. While you are looking into credit cards, find one that offers no foreign transaction fees. In our naivety, we spent over $100 just on fees that could have been avoided. Be sure to watch out for yearly card fees that would nullify the savings.
4. Speaking of flights, I just discovered the app “hopper“, but I’m sure there are others like it. Once you have your court dates and know when you will be meeting your child, hop on the app (see what I did there?), and check out flight prices. It will tell you the cheaper days to fly, so if you have some flexibility, flying a few days earlier or staying a few days later might actually save you money. I prefer booking through alternate routes, but love the inside scoop the app provides.
5. I personally love staying in a hotel where my bed gets made every day and my room gets cleaned (especially when you are working through your first days together as a family). However, on some of your flexible days, it might be a cost savings to look for a rental property – especially if you are traveling with extra family members. I know others who have done this and have had a great experience (upcoming blog post?).
6. Check with your bank about their policy on notary fees. One family’s bank offered notary services for free as long as they had an account at the bank.
7. Make “travel insurance” an item that is a non-negotiable… on every trip you take. It has paid off more than once for us. Yes, it is an extra expense but if you get sick while you are away, lose a bag, have personal items lost or destroyed, etc…. it’s worth it.
8. It’s expensive to be gone for three weeks and then come home to pay for the time that you car was parked in airport parking. If you live nearby and can score a ride to the airport, it could save you hundreds of dollars. And it’s nice to see a familiar face after being away from home for so long.

Thailand Adoption Cost Totals

Based on the information gathered from these 6 families / 8 adoptions, total Thailand adoption cost varied from about $27,000 to $40,000. Those are big numbers. Looking at the total is staggering and overwhelming. I 100% get that.

Some encouragement…

If you are feeling overwhelmed by those figures, I’d like to offer some encouragement. Know that it’s not all due at once. International adoption is a long process which gives you time to plan / save / work for that extra cash. Grants and fundraising opportunities are plentiful and I know this because I made it into a full-time job in addition to my full-time job. 🙂 There is also some relief on the other side in the form of a nonrefundable tax credit (although no guarantees there so make sure you are aware of current tax credits and know they can change). Regardless of the cost, your child’s life at home with you is ALWAYS worth pursuing.

God provided in the most incredible ways for both of our adoptions and it was a joy to watch – although it was still stressful and a lot of hard work as we walked through those days. If you ever need someone to talk to about any of this, our story is always an open book to adopting families and we’d love to hear from you!

If this was helpful, you might want to also check out our adoption packing list, adoption travel tips, and adoption travel wardrobe ideas. You can also find our two adoption stories starting here.

I feel like I just wrote a book, but adoptive families… is there anything I am missing? What are the tips and tricks that helped you save along the way? Any encouragement you can offer to prospective adoptive families?

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