Hope

 We have a hope and a prayer that our next child comes to us in a similar way that E found us. (Find her story about how she came to us in the previous blog post.) Why do I have a such a strong hope that another birth mom finds us and connects with us without the agency as a middle man? 

There are several reasons- 

It's not a secret that agencies make their own fee schedules for every service they provide. The cost for adoption has a wide range. Adoption can range from $5,000 - 70,000.  I always become hesitant and wary of adoption sites that do not post their expenses on their site. If the birth parents identify you without an agency's help, the costs are considerably less. You also get to know the birth parents better, can feel closer, and do not have a 3rd party to talk through all of their expectations and red-tape.
(If you want to see the fees from the agency that we have chosen, you can see it here.) 

Most agencies do not refund you any money if the adoption falls through. Some agencies have adoptive parents a substantial amount to cover birth parents living and medical expenses. Such as cell phone, groceries, rent, utilities...  (Here is just one agency in PA's informational page for birth parents. This is why some adoptions can cost up to $70,000.)

Some agencies have higher fees for Caucasian vs. African Americans.... (that's hard to swallow for us.) 

You need to be a good detective to figure out if the agency fits your morals. A lot of international adoption requires cash transactions, that might have a receipt or not... 
Cash always comes with an uncertainty of where the funds are actually going. Along with international adoption being tied together with political unrest, and a lot more red tape. This was the main reason we decided to remain on the domestic side for now. 

As you can see, there is a lot to consider when committing to adoption. It was a miracle how E came to our family. Ryan and I recently had an interview with the agency we decided to move forward with (details to follow in the next blog post), and when the agency worker asked us how E found us, Ryan stated a simple fact, "I don't think we found her, it's like she found us..." God choreographed the whole thing. Our friends that tied us together were amazing about sharing our story and supporting our dream of growing our little family! 

Here are some more interesting adoption facts: 

Intercountry Adoption

• Between 1999 and 2014, 256,135 children were adopted by U.S. families via intercountry adoption.[1]
• According to the U.S. Department of State, U.S. families adopted 4,059 children in 2018, a 7% decline from 2017, and a 82% decline since 2004.
• In 2020, Americans adopted the highest number of children from Ukraine (211), followed by China (202), South Korea (188), Columbia (137), India (103), Bulgaria (99), and Haiti (96).[2]