Search This Blog

Tallies

I thought, just to make myself nauseous, I'd throw together a tally of adoption expenses. I know in my head how much we spent on Graisyn, but I never sat down with the receipts to document it. For the purpose of this post, I will be comparing Graisyn's lump sum of $10,000 to Kazmer's line items. Know that for each of the expenses listed for Kazmer, Graisyn incurred the same expenses with most being at the same or greater cost.

I feel like I should say a few things. This is money that I would have liked to have used to marry my wife. This is money that we could have put in savings for our children's college funds. This is money that could be placed into our retirement accounts. But, seeing as the good old state of Wisconsin has not quite arrived there yet, I am using this money to create my family. 

And, at the end of the day, I suppose everyone has choices. Sara and I want a family. We made the choice to have a family, and, as such, Sara and I have saved our asses off to produce our family. We don't go out to eat. We buy only the necessities. We live in a starter home that is comfortable, but old and small. We continue our education in hopes of creating better paying jobs to support our dream of a family. We are not careless or reckless with our finances. Ask Sara if you don't believe me. I'm on her case if she spends ten cents. Every penny in my house is accounted for. Every single fricken penny.

These sacrifices are the result of us wanting a family. Consider this not a gripe. Consider it dollar for dollar documentation of a flawed system.

As I noted above, the first time we went through the adoption process we spent nearly $10,000. The outcome was legal security for my wife, Sara, to "prove" that our Graisyn Quinn was hers too. That's right. If I die, Sara gets to keep Grai. She also gets to be on her birth certificate and make medical decisions for her. Want to know more? Read the damn blog. Ten thousand dollars. What's it going to take this time?
  • Attorney flat fee - $3,500
  • Attorney travel fee - 
  • Attorney mileage fee - 
  • Attorney misc. fees (including, but not limited to postage) - $3.06
  • Adoption Agency flat fee - $1,200
  • Adoption Agency travel fee - $668.80
  • Adoption Agency mileage fee - $0.42 per mile
  • Adoption Agency misc. fees (including, but not limited to postage) - $10
  • Guardian ad litem fee - $500
  • Finger-printing - $30
  • Vital records (updated birth certificate) - $43