In a perfect world, those of us committed to finding forever homes for children in need would provide services free of charge. However, this is not the reality, as individuals working in adoption have their own personal commitments of supporting families and paying monthly expenses such as rent, utilities, and groceries. Dedication to finding homes for children in need involves many long and sometimes stressful hours. Additionally, it takes many knowledgeable and educated individuals to complete the complicated process of international adoption and ensure that the adoption is both ethical and in the best interests of the children.
International adoption is complicated and involves the services of many professionals from both the sending country and the receiving country, adoption professionals fully trained in the Hague Adoption Convention, attorneys, social workers, translators, doctors and government representatives. Additionally, agencies must stay compliant with licensing requirements on the state and federal levels. Completing the legal adoption process in the sending country involves attorneys familiar with international adoption processes and immigration requirements for the child. Agencies working on behalf of the adoptive parents and children must ensure the parents are qualified to adopt, receive required adoption education as well as ensure that the adoptive child is legally available for adoption and qualifies to receive a visa. Individuals involved in orchestrating and seeing the adoption to completion must be paid for their services, which is one of the reasons why international adoption is so costly.
There are organizations available to families to help with the costs of adoption. These organizations are dedicated to easing the burden and helping families grow through adoption by providing a forever family to a child in need. One such organization recently featured in People Magazine in its Heroes Among Us feature column is Adopt Together. This organization is dedicated to assisting families seeking to adopt by helping to raise funds through donations. The site provides a platform for a family’s adoption fundraising efforts and allows families to create their own personalized fundraiser. Adopt Together believes that all children deserve to be raised in loving families, and is dedicated to helping families overcome the burden of adoption expenses. Their motto and belief is “A family for every child”.
The site was developed through the vision of Hank Fortener, who learned first-hand about the high cost of adoption expenses after seeking to adopt twins from Uganda. Many parents who want to grow their families through adoption, or fall in love with a child they have met in an orphanage, find themselves faced with adoption expenses they do not know how to tackle. Adopt Together provides one resource to these families and provides an opportunity for their family and friends to donate to see their dream become a reality.
For families whose dream is to adopt internationally, there are many ways of fundraising and many non-profit organizations willing to provide grants. Adopt Together is one resource available to families to help realize their dream and provide a home to a child in need. MLJ Adoptions International provides assistance to adoptive families as well through the assistance of MLJ’s Financial Resource Coordinator. For information about international adoption, you can begin by filling out our request information page.
Sonja Brown
Sonja Brown works as the International Program Director for MLJ Adoptions’ programs in Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Samoa. Sonja is also proud to work directly with our Individualized Country Program families who are adopting from countries where no adoption service providers currently operate.
Sonja Brown
Sonja Brown works as the International Program Director for MLJ Adoptions’ programs in Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Samoa. Sonja is also proud to work directly with our Individualized Country Program families who are adopting from countries where no adoption service providers currently operate.