Support Our Dream to Adopt

My fiancé and I are raising money for an adoption fund. We are getting married this summer and, rather than a traditional registry, we are raising money to adopt a child. I will finish my PhD in psychological sciences next year and he works in agriculture.

We are so excited to start a family and plan to adopt a child within the next two years. We look forward to all the joys of parenthood, to supporting and helping our child find their way in the world. We look forward to sharing our love of the natural world, of the mountains, of wildflowers. While our approach will be to support our child in developing their own interests, Evan looks forward to sharing his love of music, art, mathematics, cooking, and agriculture while I look forward to sharing my love of science, of exploring new ideas, of literature, of our community and giving back to it, of dancing, and my somewhat more casual love of endurance sports. We both look forward to sharing our love of outdoor activities.

We have so much love to give and we look forward to sharing it as we grow our family through adoption.

Raising a child comes with many challenges that we are prepared for, both through our own efforts and in our planning to adapt to new challenges. Adoption comes with additional challenges that we wish our child would not have to confront but we are here for them. Raising and adopting a child is first and foremost about that child and their life, we are prepared to make any and all sacrifices that it will take to give them the best life possible, to give them every advantage that we can and to help them find the advantages that we cannot. We are excited for the joys of parenthood and we are prepared for the challenges, and we plan to continue to grow and learn from them together as a family.

Adopting a child is also challenging financially, as the estimated cost of an adoption in California is between $45,000 and $65,000. We are raising money now to prepare for this specific cost of raising a child. We are also applying for grants. We will place all of the proceeds from this fundraising into a life strategy fund with Vangaurd until we have reached a minimum for the adoption agency to go into the adoption list. If any funds remain after we pay for the adoption then we will place these funds in an education savings plan naming our child as the beneficiary.

We are so grateful to you all and to everyone in our lives and in our community who is a part of this journey. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and we are so excited to be a part of that village with you all. ❤️