I think one of the scariest aspects of this whole adoption process is the price tag attached to bringing home your child. I cannot even begin to tell you how many sleepless nights we spent, just awake and talking about how we would ever begin to afford the adoption of our child. Even though Mike has a good job, one that is reliable and secure (which in and of itself is a HUGE plus in today's economy), we knew that we were not going to be able to pay outright for an entire adoption. Not to mention that we're one of the "lucky" ones who found their child in a country where the adoption costs are relatively low. (Hong Kong is, on average, about half the cost of other countries, say, Russia, where the cost of adoption is upwards of $30K).
The cost of adoption - even a special needs child - is overwhelming scary. Yes, there are grants out there that you can apply for, but a lot of them have very stringent application requirements, and while they could be a very possible option for a family, they can't be taken for granted when figuring out the logistics of adoption. I suppose, in our mind, they became a "bonus" for adopting: we would try for them, and hope for them....but not rely on them. We needed to have a plan for finding the money without those grants.
There are even tax credits for adoption out there currently. However, the future of those past 2012 is up in the air at the moment. The chance of finalizing our adoption in time to take advantage of the current tax credits is pretty slim, considering the length of the Hong Kong process. Other countries might have a better chance of meeting this deadline. We're holding out hope that the tax credits will be renewed (even in a different form, it would be nice to have some tax benefit to apply for), but just like with the grants, we didn't want to take it for granted when figuring out how to pay for the costs of bringing Peter home.
One thing I did NOT expect when figuring out how we were going to financially afford to bring Peter home was the incredible outpouring of support from the community-at-large. I can't even say just our friends and family, because there have been messages and donations that have come in to help from people we didn't even know. Our "village" (if you will) has grown exponentially, and one thing that has been reaffirmed over and over again in the past few months is that there is an amazing body of people out there who, for various reasons, have made it their mission in life to facilitate the adoptions of other families. These tireless advocates have shown us, time and time again, that there is a support network out there - including financial support - that is hidden behind websites like Reece's Rainbow. The amount of connections and new friendships that have come out of this experience - in just the short amount of time that we've been "public" with it - is astounding.
We saw it with Malcolm, whose grant grew from $2K to over $6K in the course of a weekend (and is still growing, at over $7K now)...and now has a family discerning bringing him home.
We saw it with Oliver, whose grant grew from a measly $13 to almost $3K, with the generous matching donation of an advocate, over a few days time.
We're seeing it with children who are being found by their forever families, through the tireless advocacy of many, many people.
Can we possibly - through a joint effort - see it happen again this coming weekend?
I've been made aware of a few causes that need our support. The first is a family who will be traveling in two very short weeks, but still has an urgent need for funding. You can read about them here:
The second is a little boy, Nicholas, who needs a family. I know that Nicholas' family is out there, probably discerning bringing him home right now, and I'm almost positive that at a price tag of about $30K, money is a huge obstacle. Can we rally around him, and find him some financial support? You can learn more about Nicholas here:
And last, but definitely not least, Reece's Rainbow is still in the midst of their "21 Days of Hope" campaign, which raises the funding they need for a year of operational costs. Can you help by donating even just a few dollars? Follow the link below (or click on the button at the top right corner of our blog) to learn more about this effort:
I've been amazed at the support that I've seen throughout the past couple of months. Sometimes it's been directed at our own family, but more often than not, it's been for someone else, and I've finally just been made aware of it. Money should not be an obstacle for any of these children finding their home, and there are people out there who work tirelessly to make sure that it isn't.
Can we rally around them, and join our efforts to theirs?
Thank you!!!
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