All adoption agencies are licensed by the Alberta Government and are not-for-profit companies staffed mainly by Registered Social Workers and people who have a passion for Adoption. We do not receive any government funding. The costs associated with the Adoption Program are all born by the adopting family. There is never any cost to the biological parents. The adopting couple are invoiced on a fee-for-service basis, over time, as they progress through the various stages, and approvals, culminating with the filing of the necessary documents to the Alberta Courts, Court of King’s Bench. The fees also include a one-time payment that is set aside for post - placement counselling for the biological parents (and/or their family members) after the adoption placement. The average cost of a Domestic Adoption is $17, 000 -$19,000. This variation is due to the inability to estimate travel costs incurred by the Adoption Social Worker when working with the birth parents and the adoption placement.

Other costs we are unable to provide until we are invoiced by other professionals include: lawyers fee (for the adoption consent), physician’s fee (for completing a medical on the child), pre-adoption counselling with you and the birthmother by the Adoption Social Worker (this also involves travel costs), calls to the hospital to speak with the medical team and other community professionals. The costs of your adoption are income tax deductible, after your adoption is granted, and for the year the adoption was granted.

We offer one hour personalized video meetings with you and a social worker (referred to as 1-1’s) to consult with you, explore your concerns, and review your eligibility to adopt. There is a fee for this service and online registration is required. After determining your eligibility, the next step is to register and attend the two-day adoption training/seminar. Your seminar may be in person at our Edmonton office or it may be offered online. All applicants are required to be present for both days and to be full participating members in the seminar.

The application stage is next (a multi-faced process that often takes 6-8 months to complete); and then the homestudy (aka home assessment report - which usually takes between 3-4 months. You need to be approved for every step of the process. Once approved to be an adopting couple, your name is placed on that Agency’s list of approved eligible families. Your family profile will not be shown in every situation. We work very hard to assist in creating the best possible match with a birth family. The length of this list vary among agencies. The process is also competitive in that several eligible adopting families are presented to each birthcouple, or individual, and they identify any potential match.

Factors that will affect the time that a couple might remain on an agency list before being matched include:

- The number of couples on any given Agency’s list
- How selective the adopting couple is when completing the ‘child considerations’ area.

With the complexities of making an adoption plan and that there are less adoption matters happening every year, we are advising families to expect 3-5 years for an adoption placement. We have had families placed very quickly; however, you need to know that there is no guarantee that you will be placed with a child.

“Boutique” Agency

There are significant differences between Small Miracles and other agencies. We characterize ourselves as a “Boutique” adoption agency because we are careful and selective in who we represent, restricting our adopting clients list of 18-25 couples.

The mandatory Adoption Preparation Seminars are limited to three couples, to a maximum of four, per session to ensure intimacy. We usually plan for quarterly seminars (four times a year).

Presently, we are working on offering a micro-seminar which will provide important information for couples to consider prior to registering and paying for the two-day session. We will provide additional information on the micro sessions as it becomes available. Registration for these sessions will be online.

Adoption is very intimate process

It is vitally important that Small Miracles Adoption establishes and maintains close and current relationships with all of our adopting couples. While this is important in our work with clients, it is particularly important when we select and present them to prospective birthparents for matching purposes.

The timeliness of adoption is important

By keeping our adopting couples list small, there is a greater chance that they will be placed with a child more quickly than if we held a list of 50 or 100 families. This is important because we want our couples to remain current with the information they receive from our seminar.

Lives on hold

Additionally, we do not want our adopting couples to have their lives on hold for any longer a period than practical. Please note, if you are not placed with a child within one year of your homestudy being approved, a yearly update to the report is mandatory (as per legislation).

Reasonable Fees and No Annual List Fee

Adoption represents a significant expense. Each Adoption Agency determines its own fee schedule. Our fees are consistently at, or below, what is being charged by other agencies. Small Miracles Adoption does not have an annual fee for being on our list.