Tax credit

For many adoptive families, the Adoption Tax Credit has been a great benefit in making adoption affordable. Families who finalize an adoption in 2010 may be able to take advantage of a tax credit $12,170 for qualifying adoption-related expenses. The 2010 credit will begin to phase out with a modified adjusted gross income of $182,520 and will completely phase out at a modified adjusted gross income of $222,520 or more.
Families who finalized an adoption 2009 may qualify for an Adoption Tax Credit of $12,150. Families should consult with a qualified tax expert to learn more about claiming the Adoption Tax Credit.
Call to Action - Adoption Tax Credit to Sunset in 2010
The Adoption Tax Credit has helped families across the nation grow their family through adoption and has helped countless children in need find a forever family of their own. However, the Adoption Tax Credit is set to sunset at the end of 2010, in which it will then revert back to its original dollar limit of $5,000 per adoption or $6,000 for the adoption of a child with special needs.
South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson has introduced H.R. 213 - The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2009 to repeal the sunset of the Adoption Tax Credit. Adoptive families and adoption supporters are encouraged to contact Congress and voice their support of this important bill. To contact your congressman regarding support for H.R. 213, click here.
To learn more about the adoption tax credit, visit http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc607.html

Funding your adoption

There are many ways to finance your adoption such as grants, foundations, loans, fundraising, reimbursement programs, etc. Below you will find some financial assistance options that we hope will help to make your dreams of adopting that special child come true.

GRANT PROGRAMS
The Gift of Adoption Fund: The Gift of Adoption Fund is a non-profit foundation. Gift of Adoption Fund is established to assist adoptive parents by providing cash grants to subsidize a portion of the costs of adoption. Grants are awarded on a monthly basis with sums ranging from $2,000 to $5,000. The grants are available to single parents, families with previous children, and prospective adoptive parents who are adopting internationally, interpedently or through an agency. Applicants may apply up to three times. www.giftofadoption.org
National Adoption Foundation: This program is open to all legal adoptions of non-related children including private adoption, agency adoption, international adoption, or special needs adoption. There is a simple one page application to fill out and the primary requirement for eligibility is a home study (either completed or in process). The Foundation's board meets four times a year, during the last week of each quarter, to award grants in amounts ranging from $500 to $4000. www.nafadopt.org

God's Grace Adoption Ministry: God's Grace Adoption Ministry Inc. was established as a non-profit organization to help provide needy children of the world with Christian families by helping adoptive-parents overcome the financial burden of adopting children. It is the belief of GGAM that the placement of children into Christian homes ministers to a child's physical and spiritual well being. Depending on the individual family needs, financial assistance is available in the form of grants and interest free loans. www.ggam.org

Home for Good: Home for good ministry focuses on adoption of older children, children with special needs and sibling groups. They offer resources, grants, loans and matching funds to encourage more families to adopt, and to ensure the success of those who undertake adoption. www.hfgf.org

Shaohannah's Hope: Shaohannah's Hope is dedicated to helping prospective adoptive parents overcome the financial barriers associated with adoption by awarding financial grants to qualified families already in the process of adopting. The size of the grant awarded is determined by several factors, the most important being need. www.shaohannahshope.org

TMG Foundation: TMG Foundation encourages God’s people to adopt a child by relieving some of the financial burden of adoption. They offer “Matching Grants” to help mobilize the Body of Christ (your church, family, and friends) to come alongside you and make an eternal investment in the life of an orphan child! They will match (dollar-for-dollar) the amount you raise up to a pre-determined amount. www.tmgfoundation.org

Hey don't forget about the adoption tax credit which is around 12k. My wife and I took out a home equity line of credit for our first adoption. Some companies also offer adoption grants. Wendy's is a big supporter of adoption. There's also borrowing from a 401k.

My Second IMPACT class

Well the first week was non eventful. In the second week, my wife and I asked a lot of questions concerning adopting infants through the foster system. The 2 ladies that are foster moms indicated that this is next to impossible without adopting a sibling group (typically 3 kids). The DFACS case worker indicated that there was a 5 year waiting list to adopt an infant.

So here's what we found out by questioning some friends and reading some forums. Is it possible? Yes. You may end up with a foster baby in your home for a day, a month, or a year before that child goes back to the bio parents. In other words, DFACS can tell you it looks as if this baby will end up in being adoptable. This is just a guess. That's your risk.

There is a ton of paperwork due this week. How was your relationship with your parents. How was your relationship with your siblings. That sort of thing. My wife and I are plowing through that paperwork for Thursday. Hope this helps. If you have any questions on the process please let me know.

My first Impact class

The first step to adopt through the Foster system is to attend an orientation. The next step is to attend Impact classes. In my county, we attend 7 weeks of classes and they started last Thursday. I really liked the group and it was actually good material. I was surprised to find out that a parent who has gone through the process will attend each session. We went through several scenarios with role playing. They also encourage you to get to know the others in the class to form your own group. I explained the importance of this in a previous blog. For a government agency, I was really pleased to find that most of the staff was great.

Here's an observation about foster adoptions verses the agency adoptions. The paperwork for the foster adoptions are a lot more extensive than the agency adoption that my wife and I have previously filled out. Now there are similarities but our paperwork consist of a binder of info. That's a lot of writing cramps :) Hey but the great thing about this is that instead of my wife and I trying to get the fingerprinting done for the GBI and FBI, the DFACS folks are doing that in this class. They also divide out the paperwork so you don't get overwhelmed. For the first class, I was impressed.

Here's a link for more information on IMPACT classes in GA.
http://www.dfcs.dhr.georgia.gov/portal/site/DHS-DFCS/menuitem.5d32235bb09bde9a50c8798dd03036a0/?vgnextoid=28006f1ad2a25010VgnVCM100000bf01010aRCRD

This should be similar to other states.

Good luck
Joe

Interesting article on AP

Haitian Orphans Arrive in US for Adoption, Medical Care
The children, ranging in age from infants to pre-teens
VOA News 19 January 2010

Frustration among Haitians growing as they still have no access to food, water and medical treatment, 19 Jan 2010
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Fifty-three orphans evacuated from earthquake-hit Haiti have arrived in the United States for medical care and adoption.Volunteers carried many of the young children in their arms as they disembarked from a military plane Tuesday in Pittsburgh, in the northeastern state of Pennsylvania.The children, ranging in age from infants to pre-teens, were taken immediately to a hospital for medical care.Many of the orphans were already in the process of being adopted by American families. The process usually takes months, but was expedited under an emergency humanitarian program announced by U.S. immigration officials Monday. The program is being applied on a case-by-case basis to children the Haitian government has confirmed are legally eligible for inter-country adoption.The earthquake that devastated Haiti's capital last week killed tens of thousands of people, adding to the number of Haitian orphans already in need of homes.The United Nations is establishing procedures to try to protect the children from trafficking, kidnapping and abuse.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP

The Adoption Miscarriage

When we were waiting for a birth mom to pick us, we experienced a lot of anxiety. First you're physically invested in this with your time and energy, financially invested, emotionally invested. Its a tough road. So my wife and I are waiting for a birth mom to pick us and we found out that were in the final list of 5. Boy the heart starts pounding and you just know that out of 5 couples, you will be the number one. Well that didn't happen. Immediately you feel like you lost a child. Almost like you have miscarried. You hit the near match situation. Now we experienced this 3 times before we finally were matched with our sons birth mom. The experience was devistating.

I wish I could tell you how not to experience this. I wish I had answers but all I can tell you is to look forward to the actual day. Be prepared for the emotional ups and downs. Try to focus on whats ahead. One of the things that helped us through the whole adoption was our group at church. While this is not a religious blog, I encourage you to join or form your own support group. Friends and family members can be supportive. They may not understand but at this stage you just need an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on.

Misconceptions about adoption

Lets talk about some misconceptions about adoption.
1. I don't know if I could love a child that I didn't conceive.
This is absolutely not the case. When you hold that child and look into his/her face, those fears about not being able to love the child go away. I only have my adopted son but I can't imagine loving a biological child any more.

2. My family won't accept an adopted child
Another myth. My family has embraced my son as their own. They love him as much as my nephew (Bio son of my brother)

3. That child won't accept his mother because she isn't his bio mother.
I can tell you that in our case, he never knew his Bio mother. My wife is the only Mom he has ever known. He embraced her from day one.

4. Because he doesn't get breast fed, the child won't bond with the mother.
I tell you this isn't the case either. If you think about we all know kids that weren't breast fed but have bonded with their mothers.

5. Adoption is too expensive.
There are many places to get financial aid including the adoption tax credit. There are several agencies offering aid. Don't forget to check with your work as well. My work offered 5000 towards the adoption credit. There are even banks that offer adoption loans. Dont forget about the foster system for adoptions.

6. If I adopt, I won't get the time off of work like a bio MOm.
Most work places offer the adoptive Mom the same time off that the bio Mom would recieve. My work place offers me, the Dad time off as well.

7. I have to go International to get a baby for adoption.
Abosolutley not. Many international countries won't allow you to get a baby below 10-12 months while domestic adoptions can recieve an infant at the hospital.

8. There is a long wait for adopting babies.
Not necessarily. You can find people waiting 2 years or 2 months. It just depends. My wife and I went active in November and our son was born in May.

My wife and I see our son in both of us. We have been told that he looks like both of us. He has some manorisms of both of us. We can swear that God put our DNA into him because he is so much like his parents. Best of luck

What are the steps to adoption

Step 1: Paperwork – Background Checks, Health Checks, Credit Checks, etc.

Step 2: Home Study – Normally 3 visits. If a husband and wife are adopting, one visit with both parents, one visit with the husband and one visit with the wife.

Step 3: Go active – This is the waiting game. You either wait on the Biological Mother to choose you or you wait on the State to choose you as the parent.

Step 4: Matched with the child or perspective parent.

Step 5: Consent by the biological mother and father

Step 6: Follow-up visit typically by the Home Study provider.

Step 7: Finalization