Bringing Home Baby Guthrie: Adoption Journey Fund

Hi, friends and family! We’re Serenity and Grant Guthrie, and after 8 years of marriage, we are excited to take the next step in our journey to becoming parents. For years, we’ve dreamed of starting a family, but our path has been full of challenges. After 6 years of struggling with infertility, we’ve made the decision to pursue adoption and bring a child into our lives who will be loved and cherished.

Our Journey: Infertility has been an intense challenge, but it has also deepened our desire to be parents and to provide a loving home for a child. While the road has not been easy, we’ve found strength in each other and in our amazing support system of family and friends. Now, we’re ready to open our hearts to a child in need of a family, and we need your help to make our dream of adoption a reality.

Why Adoption? We stopped pursuing fertility medical intervention over one year ago. We've spent this time processing grief and allowing ourselves to heal physically and emotionally. Now, we are nothing but excited (okay and a little terrified)! We have a very special friendship and bond as a couple. We believe that to keep any good thing, you also need to give it away - and we are ready to give love away! So, adoption is perfect for us because we want to keep what we have which is a lottttta love.

The Financial Need: Adoption is an expensive process, and we are reaching out to our community to help us cover some of the costs associated with it. Between agency fees, legal costs, and other necessary expenses, we need to raise funds to help make this dream a reality. Any contribution, no matter how big or small, will go directly toward our adoption fees and help us bring our child home. Here is a breakdown of those costs:

1. 22K is already being covered by us. This is separate from the $50K we are raising through our GoFundMe. But we do feel it’s important to be transparent on this. What we have saved/includes:

a. $1,300 home study (required to be approved for adoption).

b. $4,000 adoption application fee

c. $8,820 covers up to 12 weeks of paid maternity leave (Serenity works at a non-profit and must cover what she would normally be paid if she worked).

d. The remainder will cover any additional needs for baby and nursery.

2. $1,400 family marketing (portfolio for Grant and I that will be provided to birth mothers who are looking for the right family).

3. $18,500 Agency fee

4. $10,000 -$15,000 Pregnancy related expenses vary but may include housing/medical.

5. $3,500 birth mother case worker fees

6. $2,000 administrative fees associated with shipping/postage and interview fees.

7. $900 post-placement reports

8. $5000-$8000 legal fees (agency attorney and contract/finalization attorney – costs vary)

Registry - https://my.babylist.com/serenity-guthrie?view=guest

Thank you for being a part of this special journey. We can’t wait to grow our family with your love and support along the way.

With love,

Grant & Serenity Guthrie