Adoption Tax Credit in Jeopardy

Would you consider adopting a child if you learned that your adoption would cost $11,000-$35,000 UP FRONT, out of pocket? Would you consider adopting a child if you learned that $13,170 of that money would be returned to you the next tax year? Or, what if you learned that you could be given a large chunk of the money you would need for your adoption because of money that had been donated from funds that came from the adoption tax credit?

If you have been following our adoption story you know that we have a goal of raising $13,170 because we are expecting to get a tax credit in that amount next year. We will be donating whatever amount of that $13,170 that was given to our adoption to our church adoption fund, in hopes that more families can use it for their adoption. There are organizations, like LifeSong for Orphans (look under interest free loans), churches, and other individuals who are using the tax credit in this way. Can you imagine the revolutionary effect this tax credit could have over time, in terms of all the children who would be adopted into forever families?

But, here's the downer - the adoption tax credit that was extended to the end of this year is in jeopardy of expiring this year. There is a bill proposed in Congress called H.R. 184 that will continue the tax credit, with even greater benefits to the adoptive family. As it stands now, an adoptive family must have the adoption FINALIZED by the end of that tax year in order to claim the adoption expenses for the next tax year. Here's what that looks like in our situation:

When a child comes home with us that is called"placement." We will have a child with us for six months before we can legally adopt him or her by going to court. The day we go to court to make the adoption legal is called "finalization." So, we must have placement by June in order to finalize by the end of this tax year. Time's a tickin', people!

Now, we want to bring a baby home ASAP because it is our heart's desire to have our next child home with us. The tax credit is not what drives our desire to get "that call" sooner than later. But, because we care about adoption in a broader sense, we REALLY want to see the money we've raise be recycled through our church's adoption fund. If we don't have placement by June or if Congress doesn't pass a new law extending the adoption tax credit, the $8800 we have raised for our adoption thus far will not be able to be reused. It just seems like a waste.

We are so grateful to be given that amount of money, of course, so it's not a waste to us. What I mean is this - it seems like a waste to think of the potential impact that $8800 could have over time and several adoptions later and then to think of it being lost. It's really one of the smartest things the government could do if they want to offer pro-life options for women in crisis pregnancy situations and help the adoption crisis world wide.

So, here's what you can do. There's this AWESOME new website that makes it easy to make your opinion known to your senators and representatives. It's called POPVOX. You can link directly to the page about H.R. 184 HERE. You simply set up an account and press a button showing that you support the bill. You can also make a comment if you so choose.

Right now, POPVOX is showing that there are not yet enough individuals who have commented on the bill to show the results on the chart. And, it reminds the readers that most bills that come to Congress die in committee. That's where H.R. 184 is right now - sitting in committee. Please, please take a few minutes to make your vote FOR this bill.

In November, there were nearly 1,000 people who helped us raise money for our adoption by going to a website called SixSeeds and leaving a comment. Many of you did that and spread the word for us. If we have a similar response to this, I would imagine that would speak loudly to our Congressmen and hopefully encourage the passing of this bill into law. Thank you, as always, for doing your part to support adoption!!