Originally Posted by 03USMC

Try contacting an in country Service or Orphanage. It looks to me like the Guatemalteco Lawyer is soaking you. Check with some of the Church run institutions, Dominicans, Franscians etc. Have them recommend an in country Attorney . Church Organizations are generally more concerned in placing children as opposed to making money. Although donations are appericated.

Look into filing the INS now ICE paperwork yourself. It looks like your getting hit with a premium charge for having the Agency do it. You may have to make a Couple trips too the country of origin to compile the required paperwork Birth Certificate, etc. But that maybe faster and less costly. Also check out Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaruga. I work on almost a daily basis with ICE agents so if you have any questions concerning that side I can probably get you an answer.

By all means, tell me everything you know!!

I primarily am whining and complaining about how unfair life is, but have the alterior motive of finding out if there is some way to cut lower the expense of it all, and if anyone has any information that can help, let me know. Most of the Church related organizations I've found can save you in costs but you end up waiting longer. I'd love to learn anything possible to outsmart the system. As was stated by rOk, "These things should be free or almost next to costing nothing... "

I appreciate all the comments offered thusfar too. Its one of those topics that very few people know at any depth, and it is good to discuss so that I myself and everyone interested have the best possible understanding.

Basically the reason you wait longer with the Church run organizations is that it is saving you money. The agencies are upping their costs and the lawyers too to make money. As you said 5500.00 dollars for a Lawyer in Guatelmala City is fat cash. But he can grease the wheels...read bribe officials to expedite paperwork etc.

The Religious Orders that run the Orphanages in Latin America can generally point you in the direction of a reputable lawyer sin the big firm overhead that ones the American Companies use. More than likely he can do the same job for less money and less time because he'll be more motivated after all lawyers in Latin America generally make far less than those in the US. So a street lawyer with 1500.00 or 2000.00 bucks is motivated even if he spends 400.00 of it greasing the wheels.

You should be able to file all Visa applications by yourself. I'll talk with some of the ICE guys and get you a price. But too me I'm betting that the Fee list you have also pays a Stateside Immigration Attorney a filing fee on each I-Form you file as well as ICE's normal cost.

It shouldn't cost that much money, but bureaucracy, and other things, basically you should adopt children under ten years old, but there is no reason for not wanting the baby that you can raise. In my opinion too many people want to adopt babies, and instead of going through an established agency that has recieved certification from the federal/state government, They go to the source, the mother, who can and will easily change her mind plus take your money.

Originally Posted by 03USMC

Basically the reason you wait longer with the Church run organizations is that it is saving you money. The agencies are upping their costs and the lawyers too to make money. As you said 5500.00 dollars for a Lawyer in Guatelmala City is fat cash. But he can grease the wheels...read bribe officials to expedite paperwork etc.

The Religious Orders that run the Orphanages in Latin America can generally point you in the direction of a reputable lawyer sin the big firm overhead that ones the American Companies use. More than likely he can do the same job for less money and less time because he'll be more motivated after all lawyers in Latin America generally make far less than those in the US. So a street lawyer with 1500.00 or 2000.00 bucks is motivated even if he spends 400.00 of it greasing the wheels.

You should be able to file all Visa applications by yourself. I'll talk with some of the ICE guys and get you a price. But too me I'm betting that the Fee list you have also pays a Stateside Immigration Attorney a filing fee on each I-Form you file as well as ICE's normal cost.

To be perfectly honest, that site was one that I pulled up purely for the sake of offering an example that happens to include some itemized numbers of where all the money goes. We are not considering going through that particular agency, but it is a good page because most of the agencies' websites quite thoroughly bury the details. It also is a great example because $20,000 is a good average from what we've seen thusfar. Actually, the average seems to be more toward $30,000 but you get the idea. I do very much appreciate the suggestions and information. If you know that you must endure the whole ugly process, the more you know the less it hurts!

Originally Posted by Sea_Cadet

They go to the source, the mother, who can and will easily change her mind plus take your money.

One thing that I was thinking about to get around that possible dilema: China. Those parents who abandon baby girls in hopes of having a son instead ... they're not in any position to take legal action to try to reclaim their daughters, are they? Especially if they have since had a son, right? China is also less likely to require a bunch of bribes and things of that sort. China is more likely to do something in the way of preventing or treating illness as well. However there are probably fewer organizations run by religious organizations within China itself, but I'm only guessing on that. If that is true, you're at the mercy of the Chinese bureacracy. No idea what to expect from that, but at least there seems to be almost no liklihood of the mother/parents suing for custody later on. From what I've found, the one thing that is virtually impossible from China: Adopting a Boy. (That's fine by me!)
The worst possible place to adopt from, if you're worried about the mother suing for custody, is from within the United States itself.

Originally Posted by godofthunder9010

My wife and I are one of those lucky couples that, due to medical crap that happened, cannot have children the good old-fashioned way. So we were looking at the options for adopting earlier today and my mind is still reeling from what we find (again we looked into it before too).
This source gives you lovely news: http://www.bucknerinternationaladopt...atemalafee.pdf
The cost for adopting one child? $18,830 - $19,080 based on that site.
This site has a specifc case discussed: http://www.rightonthemoney.org/shows.../show_418.html
adoption.com and adoption.org both give you estimated costs of up to $50,000. So why the h**l is it so bloody expensive? It seems like it ought to be pretty straightforward. X biological mother as a child she doesn't want and would like to give away. Couple Y adopt the child. So what the h**l costs $20,000+ in that process?

It is wrong how much money it costs to in essence "buy" a child. That is what it seems like to me anyhow. They have so many children that need loving homes - homes in general - and they are alieninating some couples with the amount of money it costs. To me it seems like one is BUYING a child. That is what so much money tells me anyhow.

I know the adoption agencies try very hard to do all that is possible to find good homes for these kids but just because someone can't spend X amount of money to adopt a child doesn't make them a bad option - not at all! I'm sure there are a lot of children out there that would love a permeant family that loved them rather some family that was well endowed with cash. (This is what I get from it anyhow...we had a very good family member adopt a little girl...she is getting her second one soon too!)


GodofThunder.... I wish you all the best in your search to adopt a child and I'm very sorry you and your wife are not able to have your own. The way you phrased this post though I'm sure that child will be very well loved!


God Bless,
Sarah

I appreciate that Serenity.

i think they may be thinking "if they can pay for all this ****, they could probably give the kid some nice crap once they got him"
course, thats if theyre not in it for the $$$$$$$

I'm sure they are thinking something along those lines. Its very naive though. Wealth and money doesn't equate to being a good parent. Rich people can make lousy parents or great parents. Wealth doesn't tell you which it will be. Many middle class to poor income couples can be the best parents you can hope for. Either way, (in the case of Internation Adoption especially) the adopted child's life vastly improves over what it would have been.

Originally Posted by godofthunder9010

I'm sure they are thinking something along those lines. Its very naive though. Wealth and money doesn't equate to being a good parent. Rich people can make lousy parents or great parents. Wealth doesn't tell you which it will be. Either way, (in the case of Internation Adoption especially) the adopted child's life vastly improves over what it would have been.

100% agree.

My mind runs in odd directions as I try to think of how to fix the problem. At first my mind wanders toward some of the sources of the trouble: Abortion, scarcity of infants and legal fees.

I think, "Hey, maybe there could be a an interlinked system between abortions and adoptions that would limit the number of abortions? Or may somehow force the system to be required to fill all approved adoption requests?" But then I come to my senses and realize what a total fiasco that would be in current political climate.

The only other thing that comes to mind is having something done to drastically reduce the legal fees by massively uncomplicating the legal process of adoption. For one thing, it would be nice to have no reason to sever all ties and try to erase all record of the child's history only because the biological mother can try to regain custody. It would be better if the legal status made contact with the mother less risky in that regard. I believe that letting the birth mother to be some part of her child's life should be available and not so scary.