Countdown to Baby A...Day 6: The Ransom

“It doesn’t make sense!  Why would they charge you so much money for helping a child?  It’s almost like they’re punishing you for doing good.”  These are questions and statements we hear all the time and I’ll admit, the first time we adopted, I didn’t really have a good answer to the big, “Why so much?” question. 

This amount does seem a bit crazy and after hearing the questions from so many people, you start to feel the same way.  But here’s the deal, it absolutely makes sense.

Why?  I won’t get into the gross, messy details, but let me tell you… Adoption fraud is real and the ones who suffer most from this are orphans or in some cases, children who aren’t even true orphans.  Basically, something as sweet as adoption can be turned into a dirty, for-profit business.

So here’s the real story behind our adoption ransom…

Some of our adoption fees, both from the U.S. and India sides, goes to investigate Baby A’s background to make sure she is a true orphan.  A good agency will interview a child’s family and anyone else who may have knowledge as to whether or not a child is a true orphan to make sure everything is legit.  They check backstories and check them again to make sure there is no error behind how the child became an orphan.

From there, the money goes into our background checks, home studies where they interview the entire family (including children), passports, visas, travel and the list goes on and on.

What I’m basically trying to say is this… Every cent of Baby A’s ransom went toward protecting her and isn’t that what matters in this whole thing?

Protection, healing and growth are our number one priority for Baby A so much to the point that, not having met her, we would give our lives for her this very second.  That sounds like a big boast, but it’s complete truth and here’s why… Because we want to comfort and guide her through the many months she’s spent without that parental protection and love… and we will offer that protection to her every day of her life and love her along the way.

While the dollar amount surrounding her adoption may seem ludicrous, please know it’s a ransom we would gladly pay for her or anyone of our children again and again.  They deserve to live in a place of safety, so their innocence can be protected.  Wouldn’t you pay the same ransom for your children? 

I don’t blame anyone for asking such questions or even being shocked at the amount, but I do want people to be encouraged when they hear that amount and know that the adoptive parents, when all is said and done, won’t regret paying a single penny toward completing their family.  In the end, their child will someday be home, or is already home and no amount of money in the world could ever replace that.

Ransom Paid…Baby’s Home…and Now They Can Dream About The Future Together.  What else matters?