A ticket to ride...but it's gonna cost ya!

Like I mentioned in a post earlier, our banker had forgotten to look at our paperwork and we had not heard anything from him.   We called him after a week and a half and he finally called us back at 4 PM on Friday to tell us that we were not able to be approved.  We needed some collateral and both of our vehicles are currently financed.  This was stressful trying to figure out what were were going to do.  We went through many options and even considered taking our retirement out.  After weighing several options (and a few tears) my grandparents loaned us their title to their car.  We are very thankful and this seems to be the easiest and most cost effective way to do this.  It is a stress relief to have our financing secured but we are still going to keep looking into grants that might be able to help us with expenses.  Many that I have found so far require you to have your home study complete before you can apply. 

And just to top it off- I'll throw this in.... I have had $1200 in car maintenance in two days!   Ugh! I need a winning lottery ticket!

Breakdown of Fees

Fees due when services are rendered:

Initial application $100
Social services fee (formal application) $400
Individiual interview #1 $400
Educational group seminar $600
Individual interview #2 $400
Educational grup seminar $600
Social service fee (following home visit) $2700

Due at time of child placement:
Social service fee $4500
Legal fee $1600

Post- placement supervision $500
Post-placement supervision$500

Total fee for agency adoption $12,300

This does not include any additional charges we would be responsible for such as fingerprinting, criminal history check, notariazation, co-pays, medical tests, hotel expenses, etc.

Application drop-off

Renee told us that we can either drop off the application in person or mail it in.  I decided to drop it off to have the peace of mind it was there. I was also hoping for an opportunity to make a good impression with talking to her again, but she was with a client so I left the packet with the receptionist.

The application was pretty short compared to the first agency.  It had basic information, a few questions regarding how we got to where we are and what type of situations we would be open to.  We also had to include a family photo and a $100 application fee.

The $100 was pretty reasonable compared to many other application fees I have seen that are closer to $500. We felt like it was worth the shot to pay the money  to see if we make it into the program.

Now, it's time to wait and pray until the last half of August when they pull out the applications and call people in for interviews.