Marley:
I can only speak from my experience as a parent. Annie B at 6:15 had it about right. The fees are just a down payment, and it’s the upkeep that gets you.
All children cost money beginning with the medical expenses of prenatal care and of birth. Often, adopting parents pay for these expenses just as natural parents do. For some parents these expenses are paid by insurance, for some not. Generally, whatever the situation, be it fees for adoption or the costs of prenatal care and birth, those expenses are but a small amount of the total expenses for raising children from birth till they are completely independent.
Food, clothing, entertainment, education, lessons of all kinds, medical care, psychological counselling or treatment when necessary day after day, month after month, year after year. And that is just the economic outlay. The emotional and time commitment is even greater if you take your responsibilities seriously. Children have a way of commanding attention.
