The “fun”raising process: Part 2

Fundraising is challenging, we were trusting an individual who we have only known for a few short weeks to guide us and lead us through the fundraising process for an adoption. I was skeptical, I couldn’t figure out how a puzzle was a good fundraiser idea, I couldn’t figure out how I was going to market selling puzzle pieces to people so that we can hopefully cover just 1/3 of the total cost of our adoption. It didn’t make sense, but that is faith. Faith a lot of the time does not make sense. Every step of this process is going to be a step of faith.

I wanted to take some time to let you all know what we are planning to do to pay for our adoption fees. The first phase you already seen on our Facebook page. Fundraising, our goal is to try and sell all 150 envelopes. Once all the envelopes are sold/sponsored the funds will total just over $11,000 dollars, which is enough for the first 1/3 of our adoption fee. The first 1/3 of the money is used to start the home study process. While it is important to bring a newborn baby into a nice home with the normal at home amenities, Abba Adoption believes it is equally important to bring a newborn into a home that is lead by strong Christian individuals. The home study looks not just at the dynamics of the home such as finances, stability, safety and security, but also the relationship dynamics between husband and wife and the discipleship of faith in the home. Along with a healthy home needs to come healthy parents (and fur siblings) so there is some health checks, more intense background checks, and getting the house as “baby proof”as possible. The home study process is also when the adoptive couple is officially presented to potential birth mom.

This means that when a birth mom contacts Abba Adoption to help them find a forever home for their child, Abba Adoption shows them profiles of adoptive parents. The birth moms get to go through and choose several couples who they think would be the best fit for their child’s forever home. It is during the home study phase that the birth mom and adoptive parents are able to meet one another and decide if they will be a good fit for one another. After the an adoptive couple and a birth mom are paired together the second 1/3 of the money is due.

As you can tell there really isn’t a direct timeline for the when the second payment of adoption funds is due. It could be three months, three years, three days after an adoptive couple enters the home study phase of their adoption. Which makes developing a timeline for raising funds for the second phase of adoption pretty much non existent. For this reason once Caleb and I are in the home study phase we do intend to run another fundraiser as well as begin applying for as many grants as possible. The reason why grants aren’t available before the second or home study phase of adoption is because many grants do not apply to individuals and couples who are not already in the home study phase. Makes sense, many organizations who offer adoption grants are non-profit organizations, so its important to ensure that the funds go to an individual or couple who committed.

The last option would be to get a loan. There are loans that are available for the sole purpose of covering adoption fees, while Caleb and I would like to avoid this as much as possible the fact is if we have to get a loan we will get a loan. At the end of the day it’s all about faith.