As we said in our first post, yesterday we had an interview with our first adoption agency, Building Blocks Adoption Services (BBAS) in Medina. We were able to have a nice long talk with Denise, the founder and director of the agency. She was really nice and very informative! She answered all of our questions, even the ones we didn't know we had! :) Even though I did a ton of research beforehand, she explained the fees that we will have throughout the process and the procedures we will have to go through so that we would have a better understanding of possible scenarios that we could encounter.We really liked the agency a lot and we will probably end up using them, but we are going to interview other agencies just to be sure we are making to right decision for us.
I'll tell you about the whole process in this paragraph...you can skip it if you don't care. :) First of all we have to start with turning in our application to BBAS. Once that's approved, we have to pay $4100 for the agency fees and the home study fee. For the home study, they are not only looking to make sure that our home is a clean and safe environment for a child, but that we are healthy and financially stable and can provide for him or her. The home study can take up to 6 months. After our home study is approved by the state, we will work with someone at BBAS to make a profile about us and to work out what our budget will be for the adoption (some adoptions cost more then others). After we have completed both of those two things, BBAS will start sending us profiles of birthmothers that meet our budget and criteria. BBAS will send our profiles to the birthmother's that we have approved of and out of all the profiles she receives, she will have to narrow it down to just a few. Then she will interview the perspective adoptive parents either in person or on the phone, whichever she feels comfortable with, and make a decision from there. Once a birthmother chooses us, that's when the other fees start to add up! On average, the adoptive family can expect to pay $20,000 or so. However, it varies depending on the birthmother's living expenses and what state she lives in. For example, Ohio has a cap of $3,000 that the birthmother can turn in for living expenses, while California has no limit to the amount of expenses we could have to pay for. Also, depending on where she lives in, we would have to pay the fees for the adoption agency that she is working with. On top of those costs, if she isn't on Medicaid and she has her own private insurance, we would have to pay for her co-pays, her deductible, and any other medical bills, due to the pregnancy, that she incurs. In the end, we could pay between $13,000 and $35,000 total. The nice thing is that we can set the amount that we can afford and they will only send us profiles for the adoptions that are in our budget. After the baby is born, the mother has 72 hours to relinquish her rights, if she lives in Ohio. This varies by state as well. After the 72 hours, she has up to 6 months until the adoption is finalized to appeal her decision. However, she must prove to a judge that she was forced, persuaded, or coerced into signing over her rights. The state of Ohio doesn't make it very easy for the birthmother to change her mind after those initial 72 hours are up and she has signed the paperwork. During those 6 months while we are waiting to finalize the adoption, we will have 7 post-placement visits to make sure everything is going well for us and the baby. If those 7 visits go well, we can finalize the adoption! Then, finally, the adoption process is over!!
It's a long, expensive, and emotional process, but it will all pay off in the end!! A lot of people have asked us how they could pray for us. First of all, you can be praying for God to provide us with the initial $4100 for us to get started. Secondly, please pray that we will allow God to lead us to the baby that he has already chosen for us. That's hard for me because I want a girl, but God may have already planned for us to receive a boy. :) Thirdly, that God will give us patience through out this time in our lives. And lastly, PLEASE be praying for the birthmother of our baby. We don't know who she is yet, but God does! You can pray that she takes care of herself and the baby while she is pregnant..that she eats healthy and stays away from smoking, drinking, and drugs!
We appreciate all your prayers and support through this time in our lives!!! We are starting to plan our first fundraisers so we will keep you all posted on that!!
Megan
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