So much for hoping the U.S. government would have an enlightened attitude on the fees it charges for adoption-related documents.

According to a statement issued today, effective July 30, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will be slapping a whopping 38% increase on the cost of an I-600A. Fingerprinting costs will rise to $80 from $70 for each member of an adoptive household over the age of 18. And the price of a citizenship certificate will jump to $420 from $215. (You can read all about it on the USCIS' Web site.)

Back when Russia opened for international adoptions in 1991, the cost of an I-600A was $140, according to U.S. government documents. That had jumped to $405 when I did my first adoption from Vladivostok and $525 when I brought my little guy home from Sakhalin. The cost of the citizenship certificate was $160 at the time of my first adoption and $240 for my second.

Once upon a time, USCIS (or the other acronyms it has used, such as INS, BCIS and CIS) adjusted its fees ostensibly according to the increases in the rate of inflation. (This was the official party line. But if you compare the increases noted here against inflation, you'll see they don't track very well.) No matter. Early last year, USCIS discovered that it wasn't charging enough to cover its costs. And so, it decided to do what any red-blooded government agency would do in the circumstances: Raise its fees.

What? You really didn't think it would actually do what a private-sector business would do, did you? You didn’t actually think that it would cut its overhead and weed out inefficiencies, did you?

OK, maybe I can afford to be a tad flip with USCIS because I'm not hanging on the agency's paper shuffle to start or complete an adoption right now. But come on, a 38% fee increase? For what?

Well it all goes under USCIS' catchy new slogan, "Build An Immigration Service For The 21st Century." Skip over the fact that it is seven years late. The agency says that the new "premium processing fees will be used to transform USCIS from a paper-based process to an electronic environment." Ummm, not to burst your bubble guys, but when the private sector does this, it reduces costs to the consumer, not pushes them through the roof. I just finished a big piece on automation software for a technology magazine and let me tell you, companies are saving a bundle by going digital.

I'll close on the one small sliver of a silver lining in this big cloud: The new rules give one free extension of the I-600A, but only if an I-600 has not been submitted.