Why does adoption cost so much?

I used to get very angry when faced with the cost of an adoption. The cost is similar whether it is international or domestic. The only way you can avoid it is to go with your local county social services. (This is how we got Konrad) The bottom line is that people need to be paid for their services. When I was a teacher I expected to be paid in my job. David has to support us as a family, he needs to be paid a living wage to do this. Everyone here in the states and in Haiti have families to support and they all need to make a living. What is unfortunate about the cost of adoption is that there are not many grants or scholarships out there for people like us. It would be wonderful if governments would designate money to support private adoptions whether they be domestic or international, but even then, Konrad's entire adoption was paid for by our government. So no matter how you slice it, it is an expensive process and that cost has to fall somewhere.

Once I found out why the cost is so high I being to see that there is really no way around it. The agency we are working with (Chinese Children Adoption International) is a non-profit organizations as is the orphanage in Haiti. They have been fantastic in clearly outlining the cost of each part of this adoption. Many of the other agencies I researched before did not do this and the cost was some nebulous number. I could never figure out where the money went or why. This is not the case with CCAI and I will list a general overview of the costs below.

Initial Application Fee: $150 ($200-500 less than the others I looked at)
First Agency Fee: $4,000
(This includes orientation, Home study, USCIS filing, Dossier prep. translation and administration)
Second Agency Fee: $800
(State required parent training, international communication and trip planning)
Post adoption Fee: $450
(Post adoption support)
Haiti Processing Fees: $4,375
(Psychological evaluation, lawyers fees, passport, translation, court fees, social history of child, social worker fees, etc)
Child support: $5,000 - broken into monthly payments.
(This is money that goes directly to the child for their physical/social/mental health)
Travel: $3,000 - $5,000
Extras: $3,000 - $8,000
(This can include anything from DNA testing, psychological exam, home maintenance adjustments required by the home study etc.)

We have budgeted on the high end of things and are trusting God to provide exactly what we need when we need it.