Font ResizeThe process can be lengthy as well as costly, as Anne and Rick Thompson of Springettsbury Township can attest.
It cost Anne, a stay-at-home mom, and Rick, a police officer, about $30,000 to adopt their 18-month-old son Luke. He was born in Harrisburg.
The couple lived in Littlestown at the time and sold their home in order to finance the adoption, Anne said.
Now, they're planning to adopt a baby girl from Guatemala, which they anticipate will cost them about $32,000.
They chose Guatemala partly because they think the children are beautiful, Anne said, and partly because that country only requires adoptive parents stay three days when coming for the child. Other countries requires weeks-long stays, and Anne and Rick didn't want to uproot their other children that long.
Between fees from adoption agencies in the U.S. and Guatemala, preparing legal documents and making travel arrangements, the dollars begin to add up.
Cost is often a deciding factor for couples considering adoption, said Nancy Howard, recruitment and family development specialist for Diakon Adoption and Foster Care in York.
It depends on the agency, she said, but there, a domestic adoption can cost between $12,000 and $15,000 and an adoption from another country can run between $20,000 and $30,000.
Rick Thompson's Susquehanna League Baseball team is hosting a basket bingo event to
Anne Thompson expects it could be months before they can take their daughter home, as Guatemalan adoption officials work closely with the birth mother to ensure she wants to give the child up.
Letitia Stout of Windsor Township knows what it's like to wait. She and her husband, Ken, adopted two children from Guatemala - Sammy, now 7, and Luisa, now 4. The first time, the couple went through an agency, but the second time they worked privately with a Guatemalan lawyer, saving a few thousand dollars.
“Waiting for our daughter was hard. We thought at two different points in time we had the baby that would be our daughter and the mother reclaimed (her),” Stout said. The third time, they didn't get their hopes up, but were able to visit Luisa when she was 5 months old and take her home at 10 months old.
The Stouts established a relationship with the foster family that cared for both their kids until the Stouts adopted them. Letitia Stout urged adoptive parents to spend time in the country, not just pick up the children and leave.
“It's just a beautiful place. The people are so wonderful. The food is great,” she said. “I recommend anyone take some time and see something.”
