New Yorker Becky Fawcett considers her infertility a blessing, but it wasn’t always the case.
The proud mother of two adopted children, Fawcett and her husband discovered that sometimes the cost of adoption can be a bit overwhelming for certain couples. In the United States can be steep. While foster care adoptions are often under $2,500, licensed private agency adoptions or independent adoptions can total as much as $40,000.
After experiencing those high costs first hand, she and her husband dedicated themselves to alleviating some of the expenses for other adoptive parents. In 2005, the couple was sitting in their lawyer’s office going over the paperwork for their son’s adoption—which cost $40,000—It struck Fawcett that many loving and fit parents couldn’t adopt a child if they didn’t have a lump sum of cash at their disposal.
“I sat there and thought if … I was told that I was not going to be a mother because I couldn’t afford adoption, I don’t even know what I would have done,” said Fawcett. “I don’t know who I would have turned to for help. It just hit me. I knew how lucky we were.”
With their own savings, Fawcett and her husband created Helpusadopt.org. Since 2007, the group has awarded more than $300,000 in financial assistance toward adoption expenses.