Cost and Fundraising

What does it cost to adopt?  The answer is it is a lot of  money.  But, it is worth it in the long run.  Everyone wants their money up front.  It's like if you were pregnant and everyone wanted you to pay before delivery or as you are giving birth to your child.  People have some theory that it is just the country selling children.  They would be wrong. 

A lot of our charges come from this country.  We have to pay for paperwork from multiple states, Hague training, etc.  It seems that in addition to protecting kinds from kidnapping, the Hague was created to make money.  We have been through 4 adoptions and 30 or so children as foster parents.  What kind of training do you think we need?  At this point of our lives, I would say we are pros at this. 

Getting back to pregnancy.  People who are giving birth to a child usually have some sort of insurance to cover a lot of the costs.  What if insurance did not cover it?  How would you pay for it?  Would you get upset that you are having to pay for your baby?  That is the boat we are in.  Insurance does not cover adoptions.  Everyone wants us to pay for the care of the child in their custody, the processing of the paperwork, the education of "being an adopted parent".  It's like if we went to a hospital and picked out a baby and they give us a bill for everything they have done.

Most Americans would agree that they should be compensated for feeding, housing and educating the children while they wait to be adopted.  What is one to do?  We have turned to funding sites.  We have added things as rewards.  We do not expect handouts, but they are appreciated.  At our current rate of fundraising, I think I would have more luck going on the corner with a sign to raise money.  They don't give anything in return, but probably raise more money than we have.  We in turn will be bringing a special needs child into our family and giving them a chance to excel in life. 

Last thought, when you give money to that person on the corner, are you really helping him or her and will they take that donation and better their life? Or will you see them the next day doing the same thing?   

We are continuing looking for fundraising ideas.  Go Fund Me is a bust.  We did not make much.  My mother says it is because it is not tax deductible.  I don't see the problem.  We were trying to sell things.  If you go this route, make sure your friends and family support this way of raising money.

Now, we are trying to sell bracelets made by Haitian citizens.  It works like this:  the non-profit sends a certain number of bracelets.  We go out and sell them for $8.  $4 goes to the Haitain who made the bracelet and $4 goes to us.  They have been selling.  Another idea is to have an auction on Facebook.  Angie saw another family do this and they raised some money.  I hope it works, but if we have to depend on our Facebood "friends", I feel it will fail.  She says that it does not depend on them.  We also have a garage sale coming up.  My problem with those tend to be the cheapness of the people that they attract.  Hopefully, I will be wrong.