Increased Fees

CCAA has been implementing steps to speed up the adoption process. I am beginning to wonder if one of those steps is the reason behind the increased fees collected by the Chinese Government. The fees have gone up drastically since we started this process. If we don't pay the fees, our baby K doesn't join our family. I wonder if this step has caused some parents to drop out of the program. Chinese adoptions has historically been one of the least expensive international countries to adopt from. I would hope that money is not the only reason that people choose to adopt from China but let's face it, money does have something to do with it.

I was reviewing the latest Places Everyone email from our agency. It is a monthly email update on where our dossier stands in the process. I couldn't help but
notice that a CONSIDERABLE amount of cash was needed for the trip to China....and this has me very concerned.

When we first signed up for the adoption, we were given a brochure that said that there would be an orphanage donation of $3,000, plus $1,200 or so for legal fees.

What I read today scared me .... It said $5,000 for Chinese Legal Fees, $2,000 for Province Legal Fees and $3,000 for an Orphanage Donation. Additionally, they suggest $1,500 - $2,000 per two adults in spending cash for meals. We will have an additional adult and 3 children with us so I'd guess that we need to double that.

I hate to bring money into the equation when we are talking about our forever family, but gosh, that sure is a HUGE increase! I think I need to re-consider doing a fundraiser. That is almost double what we had been originally told.