A lot of people ask how Erik has adjusted since leaving the orphange. Since we were able to visit him twice a day for 2 hours each time, for eight days before we took him from there, we feel his adjustments were greatly minimized right from the start. He knew us, liked us, and enjoyed the food and toys we we had been giving him! He screamed with fear in the car for his first few drives and was pretty clingy even in the first of his 5 airplane rides. Initially he didn't like his car seat but that quickly changed by the second day at home!
Once home, he first needed to unlearn his orphanage survival skills and learn family skills. He needed to understand what a family unit was and what his place was. Over the first few months, he attached to everyone in the family and we bonded to him. He is doing great physically, catching up with his develpmental delays and is a happy, adjusted, normal American boy! He understood English very quickly and communication was not as big of a thing as I had anticipated it to be. We have had him tested twice with our Early Childhood Intervention team through our public school system and both times they felt he was doing wonderful and did not qualify as a special needs child. Although developmentally he tested in the 18-22 month range at 32 months, they felt that just being with a loving family, the increase in mental and physical stimulation and good nutrition he would catch up. He is a very imaginative child and we enjoy him so much. He has a wonderful sense of humor too. He likes our dogs and loves animals. He is a great eater and loves to eat everything! He even likes all kinds of vegetables! He was originally on our American growth charts in the 50% range for a 11-12 month old and was not on the charts at all for his age. Our first year home he grew 6 inches and gained 16 pounds! One year later, at 42 months, he was 85% in weight for his age and 5% for height! At 48 months, his weight gain is slowing down now but he continues to grow in height and is looking much more proportional.
Our Ukrainian Adoption Cost Breakdown
July 2000 Trip
(see Lauren's back home page for our 2002 Adoption Cost Breakdown)
Vital Records
$128 extra copies for us and kids, not really needed, just got them for future if needed
INS I-600A $405
2 Fingerprinting INS $50
Home Study $900
Social Worker's mileage $8
2 HS background checks $20
2 Criminal Records $20
2 Physicals $0 Doctor just signed our letters since we had been in recently. Did not do additional blood tests.
2 US Passports $120
Passport/Visa Photos $38 extra copies not really needed
Notaries $0 we had access to people who didn't charge
NE State Stamps $50 we "bundled" several court documents together as "one court document" & had four others; $10 each
Federal Express to Kevin $25
UA Embassy Stamps $310 5 documents, $60 each plus $10 processing fee
Kevin Plachta $60 Chicago courier, he also sent our dossier to Ukraine
Federal Express for VISA $15
2 Ukraine VISA's $250
Vaccinations $119
Airfare 2 Adults $2058 round trip Omaha to Minneapolis to Amsterdam to Kyiv then Warsaw to Amsterdam to Minneapolis to Omaha, much higher since it was summer time
Travel "gear" & food $200 estimate (luggage, camp shower, travel towel, travel clock, converter, hot pot...)
Gifts $400 estimate (watches, clocks, clothes, kitchen linens, gadgets, USA trinkets, peanut butter!...)
Total before traveling $5176
Facilitator/Translations $3500
Cathy's Orphanage Fee $500
Hotel 1st night $154 They charged us an extra $50 to leave our luggage there till evenin.g
Groceries/Snacks - Kyiv*
Dining Out - Kyiv*
Souvenirs - Kyiv*
Expedite Fees - total $1040
Groceries/Snacks - Kramatorsk*
Dining Out - Kramatorsk*
Souvenirs - Kramatorsk*
Airfare Donetsk to Kyiv $260 2 adults and child over 2
KLM to Warsaw $600 2 adults and child over 2
Airfare for Erik to USA$850
Our Orphanage Donation $500
Additional Gifts*
Medical Exam -Kyiv $25
Erik's Passport Photos $5
US Embassy - Warsaw $65
US Embassy - Warsaw $260
Sheraton Hotel - Warsaw $ 650
Groceries/Snacks - Warsaw
Dining Out - Warsaw*
Souvenirs - Warsaw*
Amsterdam Airport Gift Shop*
*Food/Souvenirs Estimate $550 Paul is supposed to itemize these things later.
Total while traveling$8,800 (We took $10,000 with us to Ukraine and returned with $1200 and a little bit of foreign money for souvenirs)
+
Total before traveling $5,176
= GRAND TOTAL $14,000 ($13,976)
Adjusted total** $7,500
(after tax & subsidies)
Additional Information
*Since we were fully expecting to bring home two kids, we had to do some re-arranging of the house. We needed to buy a bed, additional bedding, a locking cupboard to "hide" our older kid's toys/games in the playroom safely, and a different computer desk to hold the computer since the one I had used in the bedroom didn't fit in the family room. I also spent money redecorating two bedrooms. We also bought a digital camera / camcorder to record the trip. We of course can continue to use these things but would not have purchased them at that time if it were not for the adoption. We had to pay about $500 for our other kids to fly to Colorado where they stayed with my sister and her family when we were gone. All these things totaled about $2,500. We also talked on the phone to our parents and kids here in the states a few times but my mother paid for that. You may need to spend some money for phone cards, long distance, etc. that we did not.
*We qualified and received $1,500 back from the NE state adoption subsidy for one time, non-recurring expenses.
*We received close to $5,000 from federal tax credits.
* So that made our grand total about $7,500.
*We had planned on adopting two children. Our credits would have been $13,000 and extra costs from $1,000-2,000. Our grand total then would have only been around $2,000-$3,000. So it did cost us more to adopt one child than it would have to adopt two!
*Since we have been home, there was a change in the adoption tax laws which passed in June of 2001, it increased the adoption subsidy to $10,000 per child for adoption expenses incurred after December 2001. For two kids you will now get up to $20,000 back in tax credits if you had $20,000 in expenses. Under the new laws, the expenses involved in adopting two children at once will in the end be totally re-paid with your tax credits. Additional state credits, employer benefits and other subsidies help to make adoption an affordable option now for many.
I hope this helps those of you who are thinking about it, have yet to leave or have come back and want to compare actual costs.
