How Much Does Adoption Cost in Kansas? Here Are Actual Numbers.

Try finding out what adoption costs and you’ll notice something. Most agencies don’t post their fees. You have to call, or request an information packet before anyone will tell you a number.

And once you do get the number, it’s often a starting point. Many agencies charge piece by piece, a fee here and a fee there, until you’ve been nickel and dimed through the whole process. That makes the real total almost impossible to predict, let alone plan for.

We do it differently. Our fees are flat and published right on our website, so you can plan, budget, and start gathering the funds you need before you ever pick up the phone. Here’s how adoption costs in Kansas actually break down.

Home study and post-supervision visits.

This is us. Published, itemized, and your post-supervision visits are included.
Home study fee schedule

Agency program fees, if you use a full-service adoption program.

Also us, also published.
Domestic adoption fee schedule

Legal and court costs.

Not us. Your attorney, plus the Kansas court docket fee.

Birth mother expenses, where allowed.

This is the item that makes adoption costs so hard to predict, because it changes from situation to situation and is governed by what Kansas law permits. Some agencies say living expenses alone can run anywhere from $0 to $20,000. In our program, they’re included in our Matching Support fee, so you never have to wonder what that number will be.

What Kansas Specifically Changes

What Kansas Allows for Birth Mother Expenses

Here’s the part nobody puts on a website, probably because it involves reading statutes.

Kansas doesn’t set a dollar limit on birth mother expenses. It sets a list and a paper trail. The law allows only a short list of payments: reasonable professional and agency fees, actual and necessary costs of the placement and the court case, the mother’s medical expenses for the pregnancy and birth, the baby’s medical expenses, and the mother’s reasonable living expenses during or because of the pregnancy. (K.S.A. 59-2121)

The paper trail is a detailed accounting of everything paid or promised, filed with the adoption petition. A judge reviews it, rejects anything unreasonable, and can order it paid back. Knowingly accepting clearly excessive fees or expenses is a felony in Kansas.

In our program, the expecting mom’s living expenses are included in our Matching Support fee, not billed on top of it. Unlike many agencies, there’s no separate living expense bill that grows as the pregnancy goes on.

What Kansas never permits: paying anyone for a child. Expense support is support. It’s never a purchase, and any professional who blurs that line is one you should walk away from.

How Kansas Differs From Missouri

We’re licensed in both states, so we get asked this constantly. The short version: Kansas costs less and moves faster, and the reasons are structural rather than anyone padding a bill.

Kansas runs a one-step court process. One petition, one hearing. The court docket fee is a flat statewide amount set by statute, $48.50. (K.S.A. 59-104) Missouri runs a two-step process, and its filing deposits are set county by county, generally in the low to mid hundreds.

Most Kansas private infant adoptions don’t involve a guardian ad litem. Missouri appoints one, and in some Missouri counties that deposit alone costs more than the entire Kansas filing fee.

Kansas is also faster. Most of our Kansas adoptions finalize within 30 to 60 days of placement. Missouri requires at least six months.

One place Missouri is broader: its expense statute covers birth parents, plural, and names counseling and birth parent legal fees outright. Kansas centers its living expense language on the mother.

Kansas Has Its Own Adoption Tax Credit
This one surprises people, and it’s a big deal. Starting with tax year 2024, Kansas residents who adopt can claim a Kansas income tax credit equal to 100% of the federal adoption credit allowed on their federal return. That’s on top of the federal credit, not instead of it. (K.S.A. 79-32,202a)

If the Kansas credit is more than you owe in Kansas income tax that year, the rest carries forward. Unlike the federal credit, which you have five years to use, the Kansas credit has no time limit. It carries forward year after year until you’ve used all of it. Adopting a child from Kansas foster care or a child with special needs adds another $1,500. You claim it on Kansas Schedule K-47.

We’re an adoption agency, not a tax firm, so run your numbers past your own tax preparer.

The Fees Nobody Warns You About

Not because anyone is hiding them, mostly, but because they’re easy to forget when you’re building a budget.
  • Background checks and fingerprinting for every adult in the household
  • Physicals, for everyone
  • Travel, if your match isn’t local
  • Time off work for travel, court, and those first weeks at home, especially if your leave is unpaid
  • Home safety items, the small stuff, which adds up faster than you expect
  • Post-supervision visits after placement. Many agencies bill these one visit at a time. Ours are included in our All-Inclusive Home Study fee.
  • Finalization, which is a separate legal step from placement

Ways to Make This Affordable

Adoption grants, the federal adoption tax credit, the Kansas adoption tax credit, employer adoption benefits, and fundraising are all real and all underused.

Making adoption affordable guide

Why We Publish Our Prices

Because you’re making one of the largest financial decisions of your life, and you shouldn’t have to book a consultation to find out what it costs. That’s it. There’s no clever reason.
See the full fee breakdown
Ask us anything, no cost

FAQ

Is adoption cheaper in Kansas or Missouri?
It’s cheaper in Kansas, though not by enough to drive your decision. Our fees are identical in both states. What differs is the part neither of us controls: Kansas is one filing, one hearing, and no guardian ad litem in most private infant adoptions, and it usually finalizes within 30 to 60 days. Missouri runs a two-step court process, appoints a guardian ad litem, and requires six months of custody before a judge will finalize. Kansas residents also get a state adoption tax credit on top of the federal one.
Do expecting parents pay anything?
No. Never. Not for counseling, support, or any service we provide.
Can I apply for a grant?
One worth knowing about is the Leap of FaithE Foundation, which was started by one of our very own adoptive families. Its grants are available to families nationwide. Grants have averaged around $7,750. What makes them unusual is the structure: the adoptive family and the birth family apply together, and roughly two thirds of the grant funds mental health support for the birth mother, with the rest going toward the adoptive family’s costs. We wrote about them in more detail here. Awards are decided by each foundation, not by us, and no grant program approves everyone who applies. Most programs want to see a completed or in-progress home study before they’ll consider an application, so if grants are part of your plan, start the home study early. We can also point you toward other grant and loan options during a consultation or by visiting our Financial aid resources.
How do the federal and Kansas adoption tax credits work together?

You can claim both. For adoptions finalized in 2026, the federal credit is worth up to $17,670 per child, and up to $5,120 of that is refundable, so it comes back to you even if you owe no federal tax. The rest can carry forward up to five years. The Kansas credit then equals the federal credit you’re allowed, on your Kansas return, and any unused amount carries forward with no time limit. The federal credit phases out starting around $265,000 of modified adjusted gross income. You claim the federal credit on IRS Form 8839 and the Kansas credit on Schedule K-47. We’re an adoption agency, not a tax firm, so run your numbers past your own tax preparer.

Last reviewed: October 2026

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