Adopt without debt
Curated by Brian Kim, CPA — every pick gets a plain-English summary and the key takeaways.
Brian Kim, CPA · 2.89M YouTube Subscribers →What this book actually teaches
- 01The book's core contribution is a cost-mapping exercise that breaks down adoption expenses by pathway (domestic infant, domestic foster care, international, embryo adoption) — the difference between pathways can exceed $30,000, and most prospective adoptive parents enter the process without understanding this variance.
- 02The Adoption Tax Credit section is the most technically detailed in the book: Gumm covers the nonrefundable structure (requiring actual tax liability), the carryforward provisions for credits that exceed the year's liability, the qualified-expense definition, and the timing difference between domestic and international adoption claims.
- 03The grants section provides a framework for identifying faith-based, employer-provided, and foundation grants by category — Gumm treats grants as a primary financing tool rather than a secondary supplement, and her argument is that most adoptive families underuse them because they don't systematically apply.
- 04The 2013 publication date is a meaningful limitation for international adoption guidance: several major sending countries (including China, Russia, and South Korea) have restructured or suspended their programs since publication, and the country-specific information requires verification before use.
- 05The debt-avoidance framing is the book's organizing principle but occasionally understates the cases where low-cost borrowing (home equity lines, employer adoption assistance loans) is a reasonable and cheaper tool than slower grant-and-fundraising approaches for time-sensitive adoption timelines.
What's in this book
Adopt Without Debt (2013) by Julie Gumm is a practical financial planning guide for prospective adoptive parents navigating what is often one of the most expensive family-formation decisions a household will make. Gumm, herself an adoptive parent, argues that the cost of adoption — which ranges from near-zero for domestic foster care adoption to $50,000 or more for some international programs — does not have to be funded through debt, and that most families who assume adoption is financially out of reach have not fully mapped the combination of grants, tax credits, employer benefits, fundraising, and financing strategies that can make it achievable without borrowing.
The book's central framework is a cost-mapping exercise: before any financing decisions are made, Gumm walks readers through the full cost structure of different adoption pathways (domestic infant, domestic foster care, international by region, and embryo adoption) with realistic ranges for each. This section is the book's most practically useful contribution — prospective adoptive parents often enter the process with a single headline figure without understanding that the cost distribution across program fees, home study fees, legal costs, travel, and post-placement requirements varies significantly by pathway, and that the difference between pathways can be $30,000 or more.
The financing chapters cover the Adoption Tax Credit in detail — the mechanics of claiming it, the income phase-out structure, the carryforward provisions that matter when the credit exceeds tax liability in the year of finalization, and the documentation required to support the claim. This section is well-informed and addresses the most commonly misunderstood aspects of the credit: that it is nonrefundable (requiring actual tax liability to use), that it applies to qualified adoption expenses rather than total costs paid, and that the timing of the credit relative to finalization varies for domestic versus international adoption. Gumm also covers adoption grants by category (faith-based, employer-provided, foundation grants) and provides a framework for identifying and applying for them.
The fundraising section addresses both the mechanics (crowdfunding platforms, letter-writing campaigns, hosting fundraising events) and the emotional dimension of asking for financial support for a family decision — an aspect that adoption finance guides typically treat superficially. Gumm's treatment reflects her own experience as an adoptive parent who raised funds, and the guidance is more practically specific than a generic fundraising chapter would be.
The weaknesses are primarily about scope and recency. The Adoption Tax Credit figures and phase-out thresholds change with inflation adjustments and legislation; the 2013 publication date means the specific numbers require verification against current IRS guidance. The international adoption section reflects a landscape that has changed substantially since 2013 — several major sending countries have suspended or restructured their programs since publication. The book does not address how the adoption process interacts with other financial planning priorities (retirement savings, mortgage debt, college savings) in a way that helps families make trade-off decisions, and the debt-avoidance framing occasionally understates the cases where strategic, low-cost borrowing is a reasonable tool.
For prospective adoptive parents who want to understand the full financial landscape before committing to a pathway — and who want to maximize grants, tax credits, and employer benefits before considering debt — Adopt Without Debt provides the most structured roadmap available in this niche. Verify current Adoption Tax Credit limits and international program status against current sources before acting on specific figures.
Read next
For anyone whose financial education was "get a good job and save" — the book is most valuable for first-time readers…
Buy on Amazon →
For anyone who confuses high income with wealth, or who feels behind because their lifestyle doesn't look like the we…
Buy on Amazon →
Anyone who earns enough to make discretionary spending choices but suspects their spending is not generating proporti…
Buy on Amazon →
Households in active consumer-debt distress who need a non-negotiable shared script. Not for investors already past B…
Buy on Amazon →About Julie Gumm
Read more from Julie Gumm and explore the full bibliography on ClearValue Books.
View Julie Gumm's page →Get an email if our take on Adopt without debt changes.
We re-review our picks. We'll email you if Adopt without debt's ranking or review changes — no checking back.
Ready to read Adopt without debt?
Buy the edition we recommend on Amazon.
Buy on Amazon →