Adopting a child isn’t easy and Kate Hlava wants to help.
Hlava (pronounced LAH-vuh) and her husband, Jeff, adopted two children using money borrowed from her parents.
Years later as mortgage bankers, the couple knows about a plethora of alternative ways to finance adoptions, which can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $40,000, she said.
“It’s nice if the money’s there, but it would’ve been nice to have other options,” Jeff Hlava said about their adoption. “A lot of the information about adoption programs is not necessarily based on the financial aspect. There’s a presumption that you already have the finances in order.”
Kate, 38, held her first “Adoption Financing 101” seminar last April at the Oak Park Main Library and another one last month. In the free, hour-long session, she provides potential adopters with an adoption financing manual she researched and wrote, along with advice on how to finance through options such as grants, interest-free loans, fundraising or refinancing a home, something that relates to her mortgage banking expertise.
She also runs a website (www.FundYourFamily.com) which ties into her seminar and brochure. Another seminar is scheduled at the library on Sept. 4.
Always wanted to adopt
The Hlavas have lived in Oak Park for 11 years. They have four children: Kylie, 1; CJ, 3; Quinn, 7; and Jack, 9. CJ and Jack were adopted in infancy; the other two are the Hlavas’ biological children.
“I knew it was something we’d feel really good about and would be a really good experience for us,” Kate said. She met her husband at law school and had experiences with children in need of a home while working as a lawyer in the Cook County Juvenile Court system. “I never believed that I was saving my children. My children are huge blessings to me, but I knew that we could provide great homes for kids who needed them.”
Jeff, 37, said he always wanted to adopt, partly because he had adopted people in his family of origin.
The Hlavas are a white couple who chose to adopt two black children. Jeff said that was intentional.
“I saw a real need for families in the African-American community having a lot of children available [to adopt],” he said. “Also, when I was younger I had done some volunteering with children at risk-drug-exposed, drinking-exposed newborns-and they were predominantly African-American in the neighborhood I was in. So it just sort of sparked me that this was a place that had a significant need.”
Getting positive feedback
Kate said she’s received nothing but positive responses to her adoption financing seminar, and her husband said the same thing. Money can be a taboo subject when it comes to adoption, but he feels his wife handles it perfectly.
“You have to be careful because this isn’t a commodity; this isn’t something you can turn into a straight economic issue,” Jeff said. “There are very few people who are comfortable with the economics of adoption-it becomes too much like a business decision instead of the life-changing decision that it is.”
He said agencies and social workers have noticed that Kate is able to maintain the middle ground in her instruction-not too business-oriented but still acknowledging that however you build your family, there is a financial load that must be born.
“This is a large decision and you need to prepare for it,” Jeff said.