Adoption Budget
Estimate the full cost of an adoption and a monthly saving plan.
About Adoption Budget
Adoption costs bundle agency fees, legal work, the home study, travel and assorted expenses into one large total. Dividing across the number of months until the planned adoption shows how much to save each month. An adoption can cost more than some families earn in a year, so a realistic budget is the difference between a plan and a financial surprise mid-process.
Formula
Adoption Budget
Total = agency + legal + home study + travel + other; monthly target = total / months
- home study
- Required assessment of the prospective family
Worked example
With the default values below, Adoption Budget returns Total Adoption Cost of $40,000.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Agency fees
- 30,000
- Legal fees
- 4,000
- Home study cost
- 1,500
- Travel costs
- 2,500
- Other expenses
- 2,000
- Months to plan/saveminimum 1
- 36
Results
- Total Adoption Cost
- $40,000.00
- Monthly Saving Target
- $1,111.11
- Yearly Budget
- $13,333.33
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Adoption Budget
- 3Total Adoption Cost= 40,000.00
- 4Monthly Saving Target= 1,111.11
- 5Yearly Budget= 13,333.33
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 6 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
- Costs vary enormously by route; some adoptions (foster care, some family placements) are far cheaper.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Costs vary enormously by route; some adoptions (foster care, some family placements) are far cheaper.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Adoption Budget calculated?
Total = agency + legal + home study + travel + other; monthly target = total / months Adoption costs bundle agency fees, legal work, the home study, travel and assorted expenses into one large total. Dividing across the number of months until the planned adoption shows how much to save each month.
Why does Adoption Budget matter?
An adoption can cost more than some families earn in a year, so a realistic budget is the difference between a plan and a financial surprise mid-process.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 6 inputs: Agency fees, Legal fees, Home study cost, Travel costs, Other expenses, Months to plan/save. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.