That’s a hard question to answer. Especially when it comes to a human being.
Andrew and I have started looking further into the beginnings of a family. We went to a foster-to-adopt session last night, and discovered that it’s not the route we want to take. For many reasons, straight adoption is the way we want to go.
So, I started investigating adoption paths more seriously. China’s rules are awfully strict; Guatemala is having legal troubles. South Korea’s children are generally not adopted before age 3. I was leaning toward Russia all along, and it seemed feasible when all the websites explained the average cost of adoption was $25-$30k.
Well, someone needs to update those websites. I jumped on a forum of people currently adopting from Russia. I read post after post, topic after topic of women whose journey to adoption from that country have averaged over $45k, some upwards of $60k, for a single child.
How can we justify spending that kind of money for a child? That is about half of what we owe on our house… That’s way more than I spent on my entire college education (including my Master’s degree).
If I bring a child into this household, I don’t want to be paying off the debt forever instead of saving for her college education. That just doesn’t seem fair to the child.
Is it really worth it?