I just read on MSNB that the estimate of baby girls murdered in India because of being unwanted, is 10 million over the last 20 years. This, in itself, is appalling enough, but what makes me even more furious is the United States policies on adoption.

So many couples would do anything to have one of those 10 million infants. Yet we in the US have once again has found a way to capitilize on human life, charging anywhere from $15,000-$40,000 in fees to adopt from overseas (to adopt in the US can be even more expensive). Generally older children are more toward the $10,000 range and infants are more expenisve. When my husband and I had looked into adoption, we eventually gave it up because of the horrendous fees. It's an outrage, and I'm surprised that there hasn't been a mass uprising about it!

When so many infants are being thrown away into the garbage in India, it is criminal to charge US couples anything, let alone $20,000, to adopt them. It's sickening.

Adoption should be FREE to anyone who wants a child, who can pass a criminal background check and basic physcological criteria. The Indian government should step up and pay for US couples to adopt these girls. At the very least, adoption should be the cost of airfare to India, plus the cost of the background check and physcological testing. Period.

I am just surprised that more people are not outraged about this.

I totally agree!! I would LOVE to adopt, but there is just no way I could afford it...

You are both soooo right. There are so many couples out there that cannot conceive and yet children are being killed because of their sex? That is soo sad! I feel for you Sunta. Paying for a child is a crime in itself especially when no one wants that child to begin with.

My dh and I have been wanting to adopt for some time now. The PRICE on a human life, a CHILD'S life is keeping these children without parents who would love and care for them.

The greed of some people sickens me.

I have always wanted a little girl. The thought of them being murdered just breaks my heart. I would LOVE to have one of these little girls.

My husband and I started the international adoption process twice and twice became overwhelmed with the staggering paperwork and money and gave up. We were trying to adopt from China. Luckily, a family member asked us to adopt their soon to be new baby and we finally got our little girl for less than one thousand dollars for attorney and court fees! International adoption has so much red tape, fees, and "gifts" for the countries! China's orphanages are over crowded and the babies get only bare necessities! And to top it off....many countries have weight restrictions regarding the adoptive parents....if you're fat-forget adopting!

Thank you for opening this topic, Sunta. I find it interesting and would like to know more. Are you saying that the American government charges its own citizens those big fees when they would like to adopt internationally? I had always heard that international adoption was expensive but I thought that it was the foreign governments who were shaking down the adoptive parents for this cash.

And it is indeed sad when there are folk who are anxious to adopt and children who need parents who are blocked from finding each other due to the big bucks issue.

because you don't want just anybody to be able to adopt a child.

You also get a federal tax credit that makes up for a big chunk of the adoption cost. Some states offer tax credits as well I believe.

Lets look at the costs:

Documentation (birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc. Also these documents often have to be notarized and the notarization has to be apostilled.)

Immigration fees if the child is from out of country (process the forms and the fingerprints, the FBI for the fingerprints, the state for the fingerprints, the state for the criminal background checks and child abuse and neglect checks.)

travel fees (airline tickets, hotel or apartment rent, meals, taxis, etc.)

agency participation (process your information, advocate for you, guide you through the process, get all the dossier paperwork translated, pay their in-country staff, provide translation services if needed)

lawyers, government fees to get birth certificates, abandonment decrees copies, court costs, medical exams, immunizations, travel visas, passports, homestudy, pre-placement visits, post-placement visits and report, and much more

This makes sense. Thanks for this info, Derick.

Are you saying that the American government charges its own citizens those big fees when they would like to adopt internationally?

Well the government per se doesn't have any specific fee. It's more a symptom of our whole incredibly greedy culture which loves to find ways to make outrageous and over-the-top profits from anything and everything, even if it's at the expense of human life.

Adoption agencies charging rediculous fees is the tip of the iceberg, and then there's the lawyers, who, as you know, are basically spawns of Satan. (ok, ok, not ALL lawyers, but ya'll know what I mean).

The point is, there are thousands upon thousands of families who just can't afford to adopt, period. And it's tragic that babies are being thrown away when so many loving families would welcome them with open arms.

The tax credit doesn't do much if one simply doesn't have the money to adopt in the first place.

There are so many things wrong with the US and this is just one more atrocity in a nation of many evil-doers. We basically seem to place worship of the almighty dollar ahead of everything here, no matter what. It sickens me no end.

Go somewhere else then

Go somewhere else then

Actually Derrik I prefer to stay and try to make things better instead of running away.

Too bad people like you are the ones that find the corrupt greed of the United States to be just fine and acceptable.

If there were no people like you in the US, there would be no greed, no "me, me, me" mentality, and alot more compassion, care, and kindness.

Fortunately there's people like me to go to bat against people like you.

The tax credit doesn't do much if one simply doesn't have the money to adopt in the first place.

EXACTLY!!

There needs to be a way that solid- everyday people, who aren't Angelina Jolie RICH, can afford to adopt internationally or in our own country.

It would be a good thing if there were charitable organisations or foundations set up in order to assist individuals who are anxious to adopt needy out of country children. These might assist such families by providing interest free loans which the adoptive family could start to pay back upon or after receiving their tax credits. Making the loan interest free means that the family isn't on the hook for still further debt in the form of interest payments, and making the aid available in the form of a loan means that the fund would be able to assist other families in the future. And as for those families whose finances do run aground through the loss of a job, medical issues, etc, perhaps a share of their loans might be forgiven by these foundations. We are talking charity afterall, aren't we?

Maybe Angelina Jolie herself might even want to start a foundation of this nature.......? It would be a natural fit with her own ethical concerns.

If anyone of you thinks that my idea is not a dumb idea, please feel free to run with it.

Very very sad. I have a friend who can't conceive and would love to adopt but can't afford it. Adoption is an expensive and scary thing, and it shouldn't be that way.

Our church has been sponsoring an organization to buy girls (and women) out of prostitution in India. International Princess Project. It has so touched my heart I just weep for these poor girls. A few weeks ago we sponsored two girls and we were given two keys as a memento of our "purchase" (keys to their freedom). I gave the keys to my daughters and tried to explain what we had just bought. I ended up being so emotional about it that my husband had to finish telling them because I couldn't talk.

So for me the issue is two-fold: how can we make adoption easier, and how can we help educate all of these cultures who hold females in such low esteem? I read a story recently about how they're having a major problem in China right now because there are so few women for the Chinese men to marry -- because so many girls were aborted or killed as infants because they just weren't valued (especially with China's one-child policy). The Chinese are just starting to figure out what a pickle they've gotten themselves into. Very, very sad.

I agree that adoption fees are high, but some of the fees are necessary. We are only looking at the documentation end of it, there is also the amount of money to take care of the child until adopted ect.

But there is a line that needs to be drawn in the sand. We were going to adopt, but we could never afford the fees. I agree that you don't want just anyone adopting, but why only people with HUGE amounts of money to spare? A middle class family can raise a child just as well as an upper middle class, but could never afford the fees.

my DH and i adopted my DD from China in 2003.

everything, including airfare/hotels/food while there, cost about $14,000. we did get a tax credit of a little over 10,000 the following year so we got a huge refund.

would i do it again? absolutely no questions asked. in fact, if i cannot conceive within the next 6 months (and once i get below 40 BMI) we will start the process over.

the ONLY fees we paid to the US government were passport fees and INS fees.

all other fees went to our agency (who runs several clinics in China - and other countries - and that is where most of our fees go), the Chinese Adoption branch of the government (this pays for the first XX months of her life - food, caretakers, etc), and Chinese documentation (her passport, visa, etc.)

one good thing is the fees are staggered. you dont pay it all at once. and now that the China program is taking about 2 years, it is easier to come up with the money.

best of luck to anyone who wishes to adopt. if you have any questions, please feel free to PM me.