I've had many people ask us about our adoption journey. And now that our first phase is coming to an end and the real adventure is about to start, I decided it was time to share our experiences with others. As our journey continues, this blog will also give us a convenient way to chronicle all the ups (and downs) that await us.
So to start, a few F.A.Q.s..
Q. Why are you adopting?
A. Because God told us to. It was a surprise to us, too. We'd never seriously considered adopting before, not until good friends of ours did so. Walking alongside them through their journey opened our hearts to adoption. And God clearly led us to take a leap of faith and make the decision to adopt.
Q. Why from Ethiopia? Why not adopt domestically?
A. Because God told us to. God calls all of us to meet the needs of orphans and He doesn't limit that ministry to any one race or one nation. Each of us needs to be obedient to God's leading. In our case, it was adopting orphans from Ethiopia. For others, it's sponsoring a child, doing foster care, or hands-on volunteer work locally. Adopting doesn't make us more noble than those who don't. We are only following His lead.
Q. How do your kids feel about it?
A. They were even more excited about it at first than we were. Their response is what convinced us that God was working in their hearts so we could adopt as a family, not just as a couple.
Q. How long does it take to adopt from Ethiopia?
A. It depends. People waiting on baby girls can wait many months for a referral. In our case, a group of children meeting what we felt led to adopt came to our attention before our dossier was even done. We started the process with Christian World Adoption (CWA) back in July of last year and we're picking up our kids in May.
Q. What's the adoption process like?
A. The first step is to have a home study done, where you show the state you are fit to adopt. During this time you cause the destruction of a small forest as you put together a mountain of paperwork lovingly called a 'dossier', of which your home study is a part. You also file a request with US Citizenship and Immigration to get a visa to bring your adopted children into America. Once all of this paperwork is done (and you are so very glad when it is, and I've left out like a gazillion details here), our agency sends it overseas to Ethiopia for final translation and authentication there. Then it's submitted to the proper authorities and a court date is set. In our case, there was an almost 3 month wait for the court date, but we passed the first time. Six weeks from then, on May 6th, we'll be in Ethiopia, at the US Embassy, doing the final paperwork to bring our kids home. While our adoption is final, we will readopt in the US to fulfill our visa requirements and so the kids have a US birth certificate.
Q. So do you go to pick them up?
A. Yes. Jeff and I are bringing Hannah and Josh with us, to help the new kids feel more at ease during the transition, and to help provide a better perspective on where our handpicked kids are coming from.
Q. Is adoption expensive?
A. Yes, it is. Because we're adopting a sibling group, the cost per child is a little less, but on average you can expect to spend at least between $12,000 and $20,000 to adopt one child. There is a tax credit of over $11,000 per child available, which means that's over $11,000 per child in federal taxes you don't have to pay once your adoption is complete. (You can carry this credit forward several years.) That's quite a help! And some agencies have programs that help cover some of the costs. You can also apply for grants and no-interest loans. So even if you aren't well-off financially, many families are able to find ways to make adoption possible, whether domestic or international.
I hope this has answered a few of the questions you might about our adoption, and adoption in general. I'll be adding more posts and photos to try to 'catch up' on almost 9 months of our journey.
Blessings,
Julie
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