Adoption Frequently Asked Questions

Greg again.......



I read one of these on another adoption blog and thought it might be useful for us to have one of these since we get asked a lot of the same questions over and over. Please know, we don't mind you asking and we love talking about our adoption so if you've asked one of these questions, please don't feel like it annoyed us... not at all. We just wanted to put all of these answers in one place.

Why are you adopting from Taiwan?
Our original plan was to adopt from China. Unfortunately as we learned more and more about the China adoption process, it became evident to us that we needed to look in another direction. Wait times in China have gone to over 5 years from start of process to referral (and 5 years is being kind based on the current speed... if they maintain the pace they've had for the past year it would be a 9 year wait). We looked into Taiwan, Nepal, Vietnam, and Korea. After looking over all of them, we felt like Taiwan was the best fit for our family. After visiting Taiwan last December, that decision was 100% confirmed... we fell in love with Taiwan... it feels like home.

When will Claire be here?
We wish we knew! We "officially" got in line on April 11th, 2008. From that date, we were told 18-24 months until referral. That's just a guess... not a guarantee. Some families are currently waiting much longer than that... some less. After referral, it will take anywhere from 4-8 more months before all of the paperwork and court proceedings will be finished. So the soonest we would hope to have Claire home would be early 2010 and the longest would be mid to late 2011. We're praying for early 2010.

How old will Claire be when she comes home?
Good question... when we get the referral she will be anywhere from 2 months to a year old. The average wait to travel is about 6 months so the youngest she would be is probably 8 months and the oldest is about 18. We're really, really hoping for younger. Obviously the older she gets, the more challenging the adjustment period will be.

How will you be matched with Claire?
Almost every country has a different process... I've been surprised at the number of people who think there is a catalog full of babies and we just pick one out. They're confusing that with mail order brides. At Cathwel, the orphanage we are working with in Taiwan, they work with the birth mother to place their child with a family the birth mother is comfortable with. At some point, a birth mom who has just had a little girl will be presented with 4 or 5 families to choose from. Every family has provided a detailed home study, a picture album, and a short one page letter to the birth mother. At some point God willing, our file will be presented and a birth mother will choose us.

Can you guys not just have another kid on your own?
As far as we know, we can. We had Connor without too much trouble and there is no medical issue keeping us from having another child. We have chosen to adopt because we believe it is something God has called us to do. Jessica and I both have felt called to deeper service and when we looked at the world we realized that there were a million problems we didn't have the means to solve but taking in an orphan was something we could do. As far as we're concerned, Claire is already a part of her family... we just haven't met her yet.

How much is this going to cost?
Wow... getting a bit personal aren't you? Well, since you asked I don't mind talking about it. I'll break it down:

* Homestudy - $1000
* Application fee - $200
* Agency fees - $2500
* Homeland Security paperwork (I-600A) - $700
* Various paperwork and up front fees - about $1000
* Orphanage / Taiwan court fees - $10,000
* Travel expenses - $5000

Out of that, we've already spent close to $5000. All we really have coming up is our orphanage fee which we'll pay upon referral... that will be $10,000 all in one chunk. 4-6 months after that we will have to pay to travel... along with an extra plane ticket home for Claire. Grant total... about 20,000. We also took a trip to Taiwan already which set us back about $4,000. So when it's all said and done, this process will be nearly $25,000.

Greg's a pastor, Jessica's a teacher... how can you afford that?
There's a very simple answer to that... we rob liquor stores. Okay, not really... there are two simple answers though. (1) Dave Ramsey. Seriously... do his system. It works. We're almost out of debt and our finances have never been better, even with the economy being so horrible. Ramsey is the man. (2) God will provide. When we started this, we KNEW we couldn't afford it. We still can't... but God has made a way. When we needed $2500 for our agency fee, we didn't have it... until we got a completely unexpected gift from my sweet grandmother. We couldn't afford our trip to Taiwan... until I was hired to design a website which paid for our entire hotel bill for the week we were there. There have been a lot of little things like that... things that just fall into our laps at just the right time. We're currently saving the $10,000 for our orphanage fee. We're nowhere close and I'm not real sure where it's going to come from but I know it will be there. We said it when we started and we'll say it now... if God asked us to do this (and we believe he did), then He will make sure we can pay for it. I still don't know how that's going to work, but so far, it has.

How long will you be in Taiwan when you go to get Claire?
Taiwan only requires that we be there about a week. Once we arrive in Taipei, we'll probably be able to pick up Claire the very next day. We'll have a couple of court appointments that week and after that we can come home.

Will Connor go with you?
If he's six, no. If he's eight, probably.

Okay... that's all the questions I could think of... if you have any other questions you've been wondering about but didn't want to ask, now's your chance. Just leave them in the comments and I'll update this post to include your questions.