Adoption Tax Credit 2012

Please help us save the adoption tax credit for 2012 – 2013. For many families the cost of an expensive adoption is what keeps them from bringing home a child – this tax credit helps alleviate some of the cost, but in 2012 it starts to diminish. The Senate Finance Committee is about to vote on “S. 82, the Adoption Tax Credit Guarantee Act” and we are petitioning for them to vote YES to save the adoption tax credit.

ABOUT THE CREDIT:

The average cost to adopt a child is any where from $25k- $35k or more. Currently, for the 2011 Tax Year Adopting families are eligible for:

• A maximum of $13,170 for 2011 returns
• Fully refundable as long as the adoption is initiated in 2011 or before, and finalized before the end of 2012 (domestic) or was finalized in 2011 (international)

But in 2012 the Tax Credit is going to change:
• A maximum of $12,170 for 2012 returns only, non-refundable

In 2013 it all goes away, no tax credit at all.

We are working with politicians and petitioning to extend the tax credit as currently stated in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, so that more money is available to families allowing them provide a financially stable home to the adopted child.

TO HELP:

1. To help save the credit, it only takes a minute. Visit this website & add your name to the petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/make-adoption-costs-fully-refundable-in-the-2012-2013-tax-years

2. Please consider sending this letter to your adoptive families, as they will be greatly impacted by the success or failure to keep the adoption credit.

Adoption Tax Refund 2010 Confusion

I don’t know about any of you, but the adoption tax refund process was a nightmare for us. We filed in March and finally received our refund in November. It took a very long time! The General Accounting Office released a report discussing this very issue.

GAO Releases Report on the Adoption Tax Credit

In response to concerns about processing problems and delays related to the adoption tax credit, the General Accounting Office (GAO) studied how the credit was processed during the 2010 tax season. During the research phase, NACAC was able to share with the GAO information we had gathered from families about problems they encountered.

The report found that the IRS’s communication strategy was lacking and its compliance review process was very time consuming. The report found that 83 percent of the 100,000 claims filed were sent for additional review. Reviews found that only 17 percent of returns needed to be adjusted; the other 83 percent had no change in refund made or taxes owed. The review found no fraudulent claims and no cases were referred for criminal investigation.

The GAO suggests that the compliance reviews took more IRS staff time than warranted and unnecessarily slowed refunds (with each review taking an average of 74 days). GAO is recommending changes in the process for the 2011 adoption tax credit, including better communication up front.

Download the full report

This information was taken from ATWA.

Glee and Adoption

The television show Glee is a leader in bringing positive portrayals of groups often bullied and misunderstood to the mainstream media.  The show portrays a diverse and complex cast that deals with real issues as real people, and it has been honored for this work by gay and civil rights organizations.

But Glee’s portrayal of adoption through the story lines of the characters Quinn and Rachel falls short of this high standard.

While it is admirable to show the very important reality that many mothers struggle with the decision to place a child for adoption, and many adopted children have conflicting feelings about their birth parents, the Glee storyline also unfortunately perpetuates myths about adoption that harm adopted children, adoptive parents, and birth parents alike.

In the current story line, Quinn, a teen mother who placed her daughter for adoption, is actively (and with malice) trying to “get my daughter back.” And, Rachel, an adopted child, deals with the sudden reappearance of her birth mother.  In real, legitimate adoptions, a birth mother cannot simply take a child away from their family or pop back into a child’s life, however this is one of most pervasive and harmful myths about adoption.  Furthermore, most adoptions in the US are open to some extent, so these dramatic scenes with birthmothers never take place because a relationship exists from the start.

Click here to read the rest of the article and to add your name to this petition to  FOX to separate adoption fact from fiction.

New Mexico Program Opened in September

For those of you interested in adopting from Mexico, a new program was opened with Across the World Adoptions in California. Click here to read more about the program, you will be reading the Mexico page on this website.

Support Nutrition for Orphaned Children in Mexico, Vietnam and China

Support Orphan Nutrition

Support Orphan Nutrition programs!  It doesn’t cost you anything but you get a $1 coupon for YoBaby yogurt and YoBaby will also donate $1 to Nutrition programs in Mexico, Vietnam and China.

 

	YoBaby is improving nutrition for orphaned, fostered and adopted children… and so can you with a few simple clicks! Click here, print the $1.00 off coupon forYoBaby yogurt and they’ll donate $1.00 to help improve orphan nutrition!
Please note: You must PRINT the coupon for the donation to be made. Limit 1 print per person. Good for up to 3000 prints. 3000 prints = $3,000 in orphan nutrition support!

UNICEF in the news……again

Perhaps UNICEF’s high success is also it’s biggest enemy? UNICEF claims that International Adoption should only be a last resort. That these children are better off growing up in their birth culture.  The Washington Times has an article that states the following: “The organization’s has staked out a firm position: children must be given to birth parents, regardless of the circumstance.  In lieu of that, children should go to extended family.  Next, to his or her “community.”  Finally, domestic adoption should be explored.  Inter-country adoption is “one of a range of options” according to UNICEF and should be turned to as a last resort.  The organization goes so far as to claim that international adoption must be “subsidiary” to in-country adoption, at all costs”. The statement, “at all costs” is what speaks to me. At all costs means a slew of different environments that UNICEF is willing to place these children in above a stable environment with people that may not look like the child.

Thoughts? Click here to read the article.

Do you think this has anything to do with International Adoption?

China rescues 89 trafficked children………….

 

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities have rescued 89 trafficked minors as young as 10 days and the oldest 4 years and arrested 369 suspects after uncovering two child trafficking gangs, authorities said Wednesday.

The busts highlighted China’s thriving black market in children — mostly involving buyers who want more children or those who want them as slave labor — that endures despite harsh penalties for traffickers, including death.

It was not clear from the reports posted Wednesday on the Ministry of Public Security website if sex abuse also might have been a motive. Calls to the ministry went unanswered.

One case stretched across 14 provinces in China and the other involved a trafficking ring that mainly sold children in Vietnam through neighboring Guangxi province.

A report by the People’s Daily, posted on the ministry’s website, said raids were carried out on July 20 in 14 provinces in the south, east and north of the country.

The operation involved 2,600 officers and the People’s Daily said the youngest child was 10 days old and the oldest 4 years.

A separate People’s Daily report that wasn’t published on the ministry’s website said the Vietnam operation on July 15 resulted in the rescue of eight infants aged 10 days to 7 months. Thirty-nine people, of which at least four were Vietnamese, were detained.

A total of 89 minors were rescued and 369 suspects arrested in both operations, the reports said.

Police sent the rescued children to orphanages as their parents had not been found.

It is often difficult to trace the parents of trafficked children and the law has not clearly defined the circumstances in which a buyer of a child should be punished. While many babies are stolen, some are sold by their parents.

Liu Ancheng, deputy director of the Ministry of Public Security Criminal Investigation Bureau, was quoted in the People’s Daily report as saying that if the buyers have not abused the children, they cannot be held criminally responsible.

Liu said the “dreadful practice of buying and selling children” is a result of ignorance of the law in rural areas as well as traditional Chinese social norms that call for people “to have both sons and daughters” and children who will look after a parent in old age.

China’s traditional preference for male heirs means some families sell their female babies in order to try for a boy, since the country’s one-child policy limits most urban couples to one child and rural families to two.

 

Source

Russia Signs Agreement with US

On July 13, 2011, Russia signed a Bilateral Adoption Agreement with the United States. To learn more about the details of what this actually means,click here .

International Adoption June 2011 Updates

Ukraine

The Ukrainian State Department on Adoptions (SDA) informed the US Embassy this morning that beginning July 11 SDA will no longer have the authority to process adoption cases.  This will likely result in a temporary suspension of adoptions from Ukraine.  The Ministry of Social Policy will take over as the new adoption authority in Ukraine, but does not yet have Cabinet approval to create a staff and begin processing cases.  The Ministry does not yet know when they will be able to resume adoption processing.   The amendments to the Ukrainian Family Code mentioned in the previous adoption alert will also go into effect on July 11.

Vietnam

Intercountry adoption is not possible from Vietnam at this time. Adoption service providers and prospective adoptive parents should not seek or accept new (or potential) adoption referrals from Vietnam until an announcement is posted that the United States Citizenship and Information Service (USCIS) is again processing new I-600 or I-800 petitions for intercountry adoption in Vietnam.

To read more notices and alerts concerning international adoptions click here.

 

 

Ethiopia Update

The U.S. Dept of State, Office of Children’s Issues had released the following Adoption Alert regarding Ethiopia:

______________________________________________________________________________________

Government of Ethiopia Plans Major Slow-Down in Adoption Processing

March 9, 2011

Citing the need to work on quality and focus on more important strategic issues, the Government of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth Affairs (MOWCYA)  will reduce to a maximum of five the number of adoption cases it processes per day, effective March 10, 2011.  Under Ethiopian adoption procedures, MOWCYA approves every match between prospective adoptive parents and an Ethiopian child before that case can be forwarded for a court hearing.  The U.S. Embassy is working with Ethiopian government officials and adoption agencies to learn more about this change in procedures.  We will continue to share information as it becomes available.

Read the rest of the article here

This means that Ethiopia is cutting their adoptions by 90%.