# The high cost of adoption

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-high-cost-of-adoption/59314>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 24, 2001, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-high-cost-of-adoption/59314 "2001-03-24T15:16:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KenP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c0e974/32.png) [@KenP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KenP)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2001, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-high-cost-of-adoption/59314/1 "2001-03-24T15:16:27Z")

</div>

From time to time, I see stories in the paper about people who spend $20,000 to $30,000 in the process of adopting a baby from a foreign country. Where does all that money go? What percent is for legal fees?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2001, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-high-cost-of-adoption/59314/2 "2001-03-24T15:19:41Z")

</div>

Some of it’s for legal fees (immigration law on both sides of the border). More of it tends to go to the orphanages themselves, which are seriously underfunded in places like Russia and Romania.