You may not be in a position to adopt, but you would like to help Christian families who are preparing to adopt a child. One way to help would be to send a little (or a lot of) money to a Christian adoption agency. If that option appeals to you, please consider Christian Services of Oklahoma. You may find out more about this ministry by going to www.christian-adoption.org. You may call the ministry at 1-888-397-7202. You may contact them by writing to:
Christian Services of Oklahoma
501 E. 15th St. Suite 500A
Edmond, OK 73013
Thanks for considering this opportunity to help Christian families through the adoption process.
6 comments:
Thanks Terry!
You're welcome, Holly. I hope it helps.
Terry,
Several years ago, before my divorce, we looked at that very agency you mentioned but there was no way we could possibly have afforded their fees. i'm quite uninformed about this topic--why is adoption so outrageously expensive? This seems like a factor that would bar many orphans from finding homes (or at least that many families with meager incomes would go the foster-care adoption route instead of using an agency like you mention).
--Guy
We used Christian Services of Oklahoma. It was roughly half the cost of other options because donations keep the cost lower. However, you are right. It was more expensive than we could afford. We took out a 5-year loan through our credit union to pay for it. However, after the adoption, the Federal government gives a nice tax credit that pays off a large portion of the adoption. We were able to pay off the loan because of the tax credit. I'm not exactly sure why adoptions cost so much, but I know that a lot of work is involved in adoption (legal work, social work, couseling, etc.). I can only say that it's worth it. :)
Hey Guy,
I am the director of Christian Services of Oklahoma. You are right, private adoptions are not cheap. I can tell you that we charge about half of what it costs our agency to complete each adoption, and we raise the rest. Working through an agency, the adoptive family pays for the birth mother counseling, home study fee, background checks, legal fees, and many other costs. We have the costs associated with maintaining our licensure at the state level. Additionally, for each 1 placement we do, we counsel about 12 women. We do not charge birth mothers for our services, so we have to raise money to cover our staff costs in providing these services to women who might be interested in placing.
Going through the child welfare system is generally much cheaper than a private adoption and it is a wonderful choice for many. In that case, the state is paying for those costs instead of the adoptive family.
Hope this helps!
Thank you for explaining the costs involved. i see now why the money matters.
My ex-wife's family tried to adopt via state foster care programs (but sudden military dispatchment halted the process); but as you say, the state would've covered the costs. My parents adopted--they met the birth mother by friend-of-a-friend connections, and the monetary agreement consisted of only paying the birth mother's hospital bills (which, while not cheap, is still significant lower than normal adoption agency costs).
i only mentioned it because i've been in a position where i wanted to adopt before but there was just no feasible way of paying the agency costs involved. i think you're doing a wonderful work for the cause of Christ, and i wish the church in general would get behind more outfits like this. There are just families without the level of means necessary to act on their desire to care for orphans. And that seems tragic. It was definitely very painful for me to accept at the time.
--Guy
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