How Does It All Add Up?

If you've never adopted internationally you may be wondering how in the world adoption can cost so much money when no money is actually being exchanged for a child. To help you understand a little better, I have copied/pasted my nerd spreadsheet that has been used in the past to track adoption costs and eventually became my guide for projecting approximate costs.

What I have posted below is for everything OTHER than the initial stateside costs of getting approved and gathering documents to submit to our future son(s)'s country, as we have already taken care of these initial costs. Again, these are just rough estimates that get adjusted as we go along based on where in the country we will travel, how long we stay, what kind of lodging is available, and so forth. These costs figure in me traveling alone but also convering the cost of food, lodging, and transportation of my facilitator while I am in the region where my child(ren) is/are, and the cost for my husband to fly in for court (not required but can be helpful when trying to avoid certain issues). These projected costs also figure in for me to travel once for the initial referral and start of the process, then fly home and back again for court, then fly home and back again to complete the process after the adoption is finalized, and then back home with our son(s). With so many children needs to care for at home there is no way that both my husband and I can travel for the whole process and absolutely noway can I stay there for 6 weeks. This will be the first time I have adopted from this country making multiple trips but there is now a longer wait for a court date and many more needs at home.

Air Fare (me x3 Round Trips)	$3,000.00
Air Fare (my husband x1 Round Trips)	$1,000.00
Travel Insurance	$300.00
Facilitation Fee (for 2 children)	$13,800.00
Lodging in Country Capitol (4 nights @ $65/night)	$260.00
Train To Region (x2)	$150.00
Train From Region (x2)	$150.00
Train To Region (x3)	$225.00
Train From Region (x3)	$225.00
Train To Region (x2)	$150.00
Train From Region (x2)	$150.00
Lodging in-region ($60 x14)	$840.00
Lodging in-region ($60 x7)	$420.00
Food ($40/day x21 days in country)	$840.00
Orphanage Donation	$1,000.00
Driver & Transportation in Region	$300.00
Jurist (tip/gift)	$100.00
In Region Facilitator (tip/gift)	$200.00
Air Fare x2 Child	$1,200.00
Lodging in Country Capitol  - $65/night for 4 nights	$260.00
Diver to Airport	$50.00
US Embassy	$760.00
Unrelated Child I600	$600.00
Medical Exam (x2)	$200.00

That's over $26,100 more to go.