7 Ways To Save Money On Your Adoption

This episode is going to be really different because today I'm coaching you through seven ways to save money during your adoption journey. I am not talking to you about fundraisers, grants, and all of those things. I have plenty of other resources that I'll link to in the show notes that will help you through that. But today, I'm talking you through those hidden missteps that hopeful adoptive families will make and not know will cost them time and money on their adoption journey. 

So we're going to dive right into those seven ways that you can save money during your adoption.

1-Choosing the right type of adoption

The very first way is by choosing the right type of adoption. Now, before you automatically go, "Well, here she goes," she's going to talk about foster care, and saying that foster care is the only way to save money during your adoption is not true. In fact, I'm a firm believer that you should pick the type of adoption that is right for your family. without a budget in mind. There are tons of ways and resources that you can use to help fund your adoption. So even if a $50,000 agency adoption seems completely unattainable based on your life, there are methods and strategies that you can work to develop to get there and pay for that, my friend. Between tax credits, fundraisers, grants, and all of the other things, there are particular ways that you can follow to get you there, and I have tons of resources for you. Instead, what I want you to be thinking about is maybe some untraditional ways to reach your goal of adopting. So maybe you are willing to do some of the work yourself or go out and find other partners that can help you in the adoption journey that will help you be budget conscious. So there are ways like agency-assisted adoptions or identified adoptions, where you are working with an adoption agency, and in a more limited capacity. in those types of situations. If you watched last week's video, you will know that you're actually going out and working with an adoption attorney. And you're working with an adoption profile expert to help you create and share your adoption profile; the thing you're bringing into the agency is to actually help you get the support services that your expected family needs and deserves, whether that be medical support services, counseling, support services, all of those types of things, so that you get the experience of a full-service agency, but by actually curating the partners that you're working with, which will allow you to save money in your adoption journey. There are other ways that you can do this, such as through self-matching and only working with an attorney, that can also help you save money. And they're full-service agencies that are actually nonprofit agencies that will have a reduced fee structure that is designed to be more budget-friendly and budget-conscious through the adoption process as well. So picking the type of adoption, whether that be a full-service agency model, whether that be a nonprofit adoption agency, whether it be self-match, independent match, private match identified, etc., all the different ways you can say it, all of those different types of adoptions will really help you save money on your adoption if you know which type you want to go with and don't switch between them as you go throughout your adoption journey. 

2-Be selective on the services you need

The second type is to be selective about the services you need. Now, I'm not saying cut corners; hear me say 100%. You never want to cut corners. You want to work with an adoption attorney. You want to provide counseling services; you want to understand what are those pieces and parts that you feel comfortable doing yourself or asking friends and family to help you with and then select in and out on the services that you need. Now, I have other videos that talk about all the different adoption professionals that you will need throughout your adoption journey and how you can really structure those professionals to give you the curated services that you need. Because the key is if you are paying for things that you don't need or that you can rely on your community to help you provide, then you are wasting money in your adoption journey, my friend, plain and simple. 

3-Shop around

Okay, the third one may be a little cold. universal as well, which is to shop around. Now, I'm not simply saying, Go out and choose the adoption professional that has the cheapest prices. In fact, I would never argue that you do that, because I do believe that you get what you pay for when it comes to that. But instead, I'm encouraging you to really put yourself in the driver's seat and ask the questions as they relate to: What are the fees? And how much does that really give you? So if someone says they're going to create your adoption profile, what does that mean? What are they going to create for you? If someone says they're going to share it on your behalf, great. What does that mean? How often? Will you share it? How will I know that you shared it? What kind of metrics and numbers will I get to know how many people are seeing my profile? When you were talking with adoption attorneys or consultants, And they say that they're going to share your profile on your behalf? 

How often do you share it? How many cases a month do you place? From a private adoption perspective, what is your success rate? What is your disruption rate? Understanding this when you're having conversations and comparing multiple different professionals together will help you feel more informed and will help you save money on your adoption journey. If you just show up and talk to one attorney or one consultant, you're not going to have the information that you need in order to make an informed decision. Okay, if you ever have questions around what questions you should be asking to those folks, or if you need help in that, feel free to reach out anytime. I'm happy to help you coach through that, because it is a bit nuanced and specific to individual circumstances as to really what you should be asking and trying to think through in those moments. 

4-To have a clear plan to follow

The fourth way that you can save money during your adoption is to have a clear plan to follow. Now, there are two commodities in our lives, right? Time and money: you can always make more money, but you cannot make more time, my friend. But having a clear plan is going to help you maximize both your time and your money. and following that plan. Step by step is really, really important. In fact, let me give you a couple of different tips that I use inside the private adoption program. One of the main tips that I coach people through is the fact that you need to actually do your home study and your adoption profile at the same time. Now, I know that may sound a little overwhelming, like, Whoa, that's a lot of work. But let me walk you through why that's important. The first is important. Because most of the time, your adoption home study is only good for one year. And since it's only good for one year, you really want to maximize that. So I'm making it up for conversation's sake based upon my own specific journey. So our adoption home study was $5,000. And it was good for one year; should our adoption actually have gone past the year mark, I would have had to renew that adoption home study. And in our particular case, that was going to cost us $2,000; So if we had to renew our adoption and home study, we would have had to spend more money. So we made sure that we were ready to share our adoption profile with the intention of hopefully connecting and finalizing an adoption. Within that one year, I really deployed a strategy in order to save money on our adoption journey. So now let me caveat something really important. Every state handles this differently. I know it's frustrating. That is the whole reason why we're doing the whole adoption law series, right? But every state has a different requirement as it relates to finalization, the length of time it takes to finalize your adoption, and whether or not you're required to actually renew your home study during that time. But there's an even more compelling reason why you want to make sure your profile is ready to go. so that you can match as soon as humanly possible after that whole study is approved. Now there are other things in that home study process where you're in a hurry up and wait stage, okay. So if you're worried about how you're going to be able to possibly work on your profile at the same time as doing your home study, know that you're going to have to wait to get on someone's calendar for them to come out and actually have a conversation with you for the interview, and you're going to have to wait for the background checks to come back and the fingerprint prints to come back and all of those types of things. So while you're in those waiting phases, now is the perfect time to be working on your profile. There are other tips like that that can really help you through the adoption process inside the private adoption program. So if you need help figuring out exactly how to proceed, the step-by-step process is really laid out efficiently. Be sure to check that out, my friend.

5-To Take action

So the fifth way that you can save money during your adoption journey is to take action. I know it seems like a no-brainer, but you might be wondering what kind of action I need to be taking. Listen, you need to be following a step-by-step process that tells you exactly what to do. And then you need to be using time blocking. And what time blocking is, if you aren't familiar, is literally scheduling in your calendar the action you need to take. So for me, for instance, I have this passion project that I do right by sharing information with you, a corporate day job, and two kids that I want to show up strong for. So I'm very clear: each week I sit down on Sunday and say, What are the most important things that I need to do this week? And then I literally open up my calendar and pencil everything in. I look at each bucket of my life and think about what are the three actions that I need to take? And then what are the exact time windows that I am going to take those actions? Your adoption journey is no different, my friend. In fact, that's exactly what I did. in my adoption journey. I said, Okay, I've got to figure out how we're going to adopt and what method of matching we're going to use. I sat down, I scheduled time, here's the time I'm going to do this action, I'm going to go research this type of adoption and research that type of adoption, and then I would make my decision, and I literally put holds on my calendar. So Saturday morning, from seven to eight, I'm going to do this; from one to two, I'm going to do this right. I literally put holds on my calendar for exactly what I was going to do. And having that plan and then holding yourself accountable to that plan is really going to help you save money during your adoption journey because you're going to stay focused and you're not going to buy things that you don't need. And you're not going to get distracted in all of these different areas. Instead, you're going to have a clear path of exactly what to do. 

6- To have a clear and concise adoption profile.

So the sixth way that you can save money during your adoption journey is to have a clear and concise adoption profile. Now, I know you've probably heard me talk about adoption profiles before. But really, it is a huge factor in your waiting period and the speed of your overall adoption. Because if it is hard to get to know you and what to expect, someone is simply going to move on to the next profile. Now, this can feel incredibly tricky, especially if you're working with an adoption agency that has a profile template that they require. You may say I don't understand how to make it clear who we are within their template or that I just answered their list of questions. Doesn't that make it clear? No, my friend, it doesn't. The questions in the way the profile of the setup has to be specifically designed to create an emotional connection with an expected family. Because if you don't, they're simply going to move on to the next profile. If you confuse, you lose—that is the bottom line when it comes to adoption profiles. And it doesn't matter if they're looking at a Facebook post about your family. If they're reading a profile book, if theyre watching the video, or even if you have a website or a business card, any different element that you could be using from a profile perspective could be potentially confusing to expectant families. So if you don't get past that moment of, Oh, I want to learn more about them, then you're done. They move on to the next profile in the stack. And it feels harsh, and it is harsh. But this is the actual step in the process that can eat up your time and cost you a lot of money unnecessarily if you're working with the wrong professional, or, God forbid, trying to go at it on your own. 

7-To be sharing your profile

So the seventh way you can save money during your adoption builds on number six, but that is by sharing your profile. So once you know you have a high-quality adoption profile that's going to make an emotional connection, you need to be sharing your profile. And when I say sharing your profile, of course, you've got to follow the law in your particular state. You can go check out all of the other videos and podcasts that I have on this topic on those topics in those particular states. But it is your job to share your profile; it does not matter if you're working with one of those full-service agencies and spending $50,000 or whatever on your adoption. If you aren't sharing your profile and putting yourself in the driver's seat, And getting your profile out there more often will simply take you longer to match, period. So there are two elements: you caught that high-quality profile and shared the daylights out of that profile. You want people to know that you are hoping to adopt. You want people in real life to know that you're hoping to adopt, and you want to make sure that you are sharing it from a digital perspective in as many ways as you can, whether through Facebook groups or paid ads. 

Every way you can possibly think of or that I can coach you through to share your adoption profile only increases the chances that you are going to match faster with a friend. Okay, there you have it—seven ways you can save money during your adoption journey. Just a few pieces of information that I share with my clients on a regular basis when I coach them through the process that are really designed to help them save time and money, and if you are looking for resources on how to fund your adoption, be sure to check out this video because it was actually designed to walk you through how to do grants and fundraisers and all the things. 

Remember, my friend, anything's possible with the right plan and support, and I'm here with you every step of the way. I'll see you soon.