Nasha Foster,
Director of Communications, HelpUsAdopt.org
There are countless reasons families pursue adoption, but every journey shares a similar goal: to provide a loving, permanent home for a child in need.
Far too often the adoption journey comes with obstacles, one of the biggest being financial. The average adoption costs $43,000 and the median income in the United States is just under $36,000. Knowing those figures, it’s easy to see why so many families start the adoption process asking, “How am I going to afford this?”
The adoption grant organization Helpusadopt.org receives over one thousand applications a year from couples and individuals struggling with the high cost of adoption. During the pandemic, the number of applications received has only increased. Families are facing unforeseen challenges, including travel restrictions, court hearing delays, job losses, and increased health risks. These challenges have caused delays in the adoption process and increased costs.
Adoption grants help to solve these problems by reducing the financial burden and giving families peace of mind. Often these grants allow medically at-risk children to be brought home sooner, reducing the time they must wait to receive life-changing medical treatments. Grants impact families in the long term as well. By saving on high-interest loans, families are able to avoid long-term debt, oftentimes allowing them to pursue adoption again, giving another child in need a safe, loving home.
Unfortunately, many adoption grants are not available to everyone. Single parents and LGBTQ families especially face additional roadblocks when trying to apply for financial assistance. Another hard truth when it comes to adoption is that the need for financial assistance is far greater than the resources available. Far too many families are forced into debt to fulfill their dreams of parenthood. Others, unable to pay the fees, must abandon the process altogether.
Adoption grants and other financial assistance programs are paving the way for more families to be built, and more children to find homes. Until adoption becomes more affordable and more accessible to all, cost will continue to be a barrier between children in need of permanent, loving homes and the families willing and waiting to provide for them.