Adopting a newborn baby is a beautiful thing to do.
It’s a good act of selflessness that allows your family to be loved and cared for in a way they might not have otherwise.
If you’re interested in providing a child with a loving family, here is some information on how to adopt a baby in Florida.
The first step to adopt a newborn baby in Florida, is to complete your home study. Home study approves you as a family who is fit to adopt. There are two ways you can do your home study.
Steps on how to adopt a newborn baby in Florida
The most common method is an agency that helps you complete a home study. They have a home study worker, who comes to your house and does all the examation and audit
On the other hand, if you don’t want an agency you need to hire an attorney to help you through the process. Some agencies stand independently, known as home study agencies. They have licences to conduct home studies.
A home study investigates a family and their home before allowing them to adopt. They conduct background checks on who your parents are, when and where you went to school, your hobbies, and how much you earn a year.
The home study aims to ensure you have all the facilities and resources required to adopt a baby. They also need to verify that you are prepared for adoption.
Some agencies require you to take classes to ensure that you understand what adoption is. For example, if you want interracial adoption(a situation where a family adopts a child of a different
race), it is essential to understand the dynamics. Mostly it’s covered in the home study.
The second step after the home study is to get matched with a biological mother looking into adoption.
In this process, the biological mom looks at your profile and confirms to the family that she would want a baby to reside with. Once the mom has chosen the family, the prospects gets notified.
The third step is waiting for delivery. This differs depending on how long after delivery the mother has to stay before she agrees to the adoption.
For example, the mother has 48 hours in Florida to change her mind or agree with the adoption. In other states, the mother must sign the consent immediately after giving birth.
The last step is finalizing your adoption in court by making it official. In some states, for example, Florida, if you are adopting a baby from Florida and the mother signs the document and takes your baby, you can finalize the adoption before returning to your state.
You must wait six months before finalizing that adoption in other countries or states.
What are the costs of adopting a newborn baby in Florida?
There are different types of adoption, their cost, and how to get your tax credit for adoptions. The cost of adoption can be between 0-40,000$.
This cost is not much if you are interested in adoption. These types of adoption include:
Foster adoption care
It is the cheapest type of adoption. This is where you’re adopting a child out of the foster care system. The child can be adopted by either another adoptive family or foster parents.
It is the least expensive type of adoption because the state pays all your expenses. The state even produces the attorney to do the adoption for you.
Step parent adoption
This is where a step-parent is adopting their stepchild, costing about $2,500 to $4000. This is a step-parent adopting more than one child.
Domestic private adoption
This means you are adopting a newborn baby from a family in your state or another. So, for example, you can be from Florida and adopt a baby from California.
The cost of domestic infant adoption depends on different things. The cost of attorneys hired during adoption also depends on whether the mother has medical expenses you will be responsible for and any fees, for example, the amount of money legally paid to the mother before adopting the baby.
Thus this may cost an average of $8000-1000 or more. This may also increase if you are adopting from a different state.
For example, if you live in Tennessee and are adopting a baby from Florida, you are operating in two different states, so you may need to pay more.
Domestic agency
This is whereby you’re adopting a newborn through an agency.
For example, as a couple, you decide that you need a family through adoption.
You will visit search engine optimizations such as Google and search for adoption agencies. By communicating with this agency, they will hook you up with a family that is interested in the adoption.
Thus in this process, you will need to hire a private agency and pay at least $10,000 for the agency to show your profile to different mothers. Thou the amount depends on the agency.
Always make sure the agency you’re using is licensed. Call them and ask them questions by inquiring how they will show your profile and much more.
Read their reviews and ensure you are comfortable working with them before sending your money.
International adoption
This is the most expensive adoption. This is whereby you are adopting a child from another country. For example, you live in the United States and want to adopt a child from the United Kingdom.
The cost can be expensive, an estimated $30,000-50,000 and even more. It depends on the country you are adopting from.
Conclusion
Adopting a newborn baby may seem simple, but you should be prepared. Depending on your budget, you can plan to do any adoption.
It’s good to undergo all those processes we have discussed to prevent future legal issues. That’s all for today; tell me what you think about this article, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post in the comment section below.
