What costs so much?

I am sure most if not all of you are wondering why adoption is so expensive. We wondered too when we first started this process. Here is a break-down of costs:
Home Study fee:$1500. This is where we pay someone to come visit/inspect our home and interview us and write up a report stating that we can adopt. We have to go through approx. 6 interviews total and gather lots of paperwork.
US immigration fees: $1670
US adoption agency fees: $4600
International Agency fee:$10,200 (This includes orphanage support fees, Liberian government and court fees, etc.)
Travel: $8000 (Adrian and Ami) $15000 (Whole family) Yes, travel is almost half the cost of the total. We would love to be able to bring Johnny and Rachel with us to meet their siblings in Liberia. We want them to be able to share that memory with us, and to know firsthand what life is truly like in Liberia and what it looks like to live in an orphanage in an impoverished country.
Total: Approximately $32,970
If you have any questions or comments we welcome and encourage them.
Thanks for reading this!
Ami