You Can Adopt Without Debt: Creative Ways to Cover the Cost of Adoption Paperback – January 6, 2015

As my wife and I look into adoption this was an incredibly helpful resource for us! As fellow followers of Dave Ramsey we also have decided to adopt without debt and trust that God will provide funds for something He Himself does, adopt! Julie is very clear about her faith in Jesus Christ as well as being firmly against debt. She provides an almost overwhelming (in a good way) amount of information to not go into debt for the adoption process. There are so many fundraisers, grants, etc mentioned that I didn't even know existed! This book is also motivating for the adoptive parent looking at $10,000-$50,000 worth of expenses. It gives you the feeling that you can do it, and that it has been done before. Writing is clear and concise, Julie gives a glimpse of their personal adoption process, and an amazing amount of resources available. Five stars are definitley deserved and I will encourage anyone looking into adopting to read this book. It will be kept for us to use throughout our process as a reference guide.

Awesome practical advices everyone needs to know when considering adoption . It definitely opened my eyes on many things I didn't know about. I think that adoption should Not bring debt in the family and I like how the author describes that high adoption cost could be achieved by everyone with out any debt. I would also recommend Dave Ramsey "Financial piece university " . It will give practical advices how to live debt free the whole life.

This book is amazing! It's fairly brief, but everything that is included is awesome. This book gave me some great ideas for fundraising, and even highlighted the process of adoption briefly. I love the real-life examples and stories of families who have been through the adoption process and how God provided for them through creative, unique fundraising ideas. If you are adopting, this is a must read for encouragement to adopt without debt and fundraising to bring your child home!

The book was very informative of adoption period. With information on all the different ways to adopt. Let alone all the information and many idea on how to pay for it.

This is an un-edited copy, so take the grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. errors with a grain of salt.The book starts slow explaining her story and how they got out of debt "never to return", but winds up getting to really useful strategies and explains how to save money in nearly any home, I imagine, as well as some tips for fund raising specifically for adopting.

Ms. Gumm's books has tons of creative ideas for ways to help finance an adoption without using debt. Many of her recommendations are very close to principles of Dave Ramsey's way to get out of debt. If Dave Ramsey's principles are a foreign concept, this book will really open your eyes how get healthier financially, regardless of whether or not (or how) you pursue adoption. We are using or going to use several techniques to help us save more money for adoption.Just a few criticisms. One, Ms. Gumm was blessed with biological children before the call to adopt. Although she does mention infertility in the book, those experiencing infertility might not agree with her perspective of adopting without any debt. For us, one of the reasons why we don't have enough liquid resources is because we have successfully attacked our debt through our marriage and cash flowed medical expenses related to trying to treat our infertility. After experiencing years of infertility, it is downright painful to think of pushing off adoption any longer because the call to become parents is so strong. Will we go into mountains of debt to make it possible? No, but we've examined our situation and are prepared to use a small loan in the short term to become parents as soon as we can, and if it takes us a few months to get matched, we will not need the loan at all. Like Ms. Gumm, we too believe God will provide, but we also believe God has provided us with the means and brains to approach this sensibly. Everyone's call and situation will be different.Two, I am simply not a fan of the orphan language used throughout the book. I understand the spiritual perspective the author is coming from, but it doesn't mesh with how I believe the topic of adoption should be discussed. This concept promotes the idea that people that adopt children are heroes, that adoptees should be grateful for being saved, etc. Adoption is a way to address an imperfect situation, and adoptive parents should not feel pride as heroes that saved children in need. It is an act of love, and our language should reflect that so adoptees grow up with a strong sense of self and a healthy understanding of their past. I have yet to meet an adult adoptee who prefers to be called an orphan. I wonder how Ms. Gumm's adopted children will feel about the language used once they are adults and have fully formed their own identities.All in all, a solid book with good fundraising ideas if you can stomach the "saving orphans" theme.

This book had us consider being foster parents which we didn't before.It can help look at all the options to have a family and what it means. We originally thought and even started pursuing international adoption and stopped the process fairly at the beginning after reading the book. We had simply realized that wherever we are at the moment being foster parents is the right step for us.

This book does a great job giving basic information to potential adoptive parents in the first few chapters about the different types of adoption as well as their pros and cons. It then goes on to give lots of creative yet practical ideas for raising funds. It's written in a friendly, down-to-earth manner that makes it feel like getting good advice from a friend.

The information was good, definitely informative, HOWEVER...there is a lot, and I mean A LOT of Christian references. While this may appeal to a few, I found it very distracting and a bit of a waste of time and space in this book. There were entire paragraphs and pages I would skip due to the talk about the influence their religion had over every aspect of their life. I know that religion can play a vital role in adoption for some, but I am guessing that is not the case for most. For a book about financing an adoption, there is WAY too much discussion about religion.