Copy of Letter Sent to Prime Minister of Vietnam

For those of you would are following the progress of Vietnam re-opening its doors to the US for international adoption, click here to see the actual letter that was sent on January 15th, 2009 to the Prime Minister of Vietnam as well as the added signatures of our Senators and Congressmen who support this cause. As I learn new information, I will let you know!

3 Newborn Adoption Opportunities

I have some information regarding three newborn adoption opportunities. The only information I will post is that they are all in CA and one birthmother is willing to place with a same-sex (female only) couple. If you would like more information, contact me and I will pass it on to you.

Funding Adoption

The fact that adoption is expensive is no secret. I have come across an extensive list of different agencies and programs which offer financial assistance to adoptive parents. The website is Tomorrow Is A Gift.  It contains a list of links that provide adoption assistance. Many are exclusive to certain countries, while others are exclusive to domestic adoption, or children with special needs, but you will find that there is a lot to choose from. I have heard from many agencies that now is the time to adopt, because the economy is in such a bad state, many people have decided to terminate their adoption process and many more have decided against beginning the adoption journey due to the expense. So, that means that for some programs, the amount of time you have to wait for a referral has lessened due to lack of adoptive parents. I encourage you to ask your adoption agency how their programs have been affected due to the poor economy and how/if that will impact your adoption.

Follow Up: Joint Council Call to Action Vietnam

For those of you who are interested in joint call to action concerning Vietnam which I previously posted about here, I have some information to share regarding the letter that was sent to the Prime Minister of Vietnam. On Thursday of last week, I received a phone call from my U.S. Congressman Zach Wamp’s office in response to an email that I sent him encouraging and informing him of the letter that was being sent to Vietnam regarding negotiations of intercountry adoption between the U.S. and Vietnam. The email simply requested that he add his signature to the letter. He was happy to share that the letter was sent the evening of Thursday, January 15th and included 95 U.S. Congress signatures. Considering there are 535 total members in the U.S. Congress, 95 does not seem like much, but, hey, it’s better than nothing! I’ll try to stay on top of this and keep you posted!

Real Life Experience

The following article was brought to my attention and I thought I would share it with you. I have no personal experience with the agency involved, Independent Adoption Center, however my goal with this website is to bring all possible information to your attention whether it be positive or negative. The article involves an adoptive couple looking to pursue an open domestic adoption and their experience with their adoption agency of choice. I believe that the article is informative and can help other potential adoptive parents as they begin their journey of adoption by giving ideas of questions to ask, websites to research and things to look for or look out for when seeking an adoption agency. Click here to read the article. Please feel free to comment should you have your own story to share!

Weebles Wobblog

I have developed a friendship with a fellow blogger who is the author of Weebles Wobblog. She is a also an adoptive parent and has much to offer on the topic of adoption. Her primary focus is open adoption and having been through the experience herself, she is quite knowledgeable. You can find her all over the internet, I don’t know how she finds the time to write as much as she does! I added her link to my website, but just in case you missed it I wanted to do a quick post to share her with you! Let me know what you think! If you have any links to share with me that you think are informative and helpful I would love to know them.

2011 Tax Credit

One of my readers brought this quote to my attention,”The National Council for Adoption, has publicized information regarding the Adoption Tax Credit. The following is an excerpt from their report: Beginning in 2011, parents will be eligible for a reduced tax credit of $6,000 per adopted child with special needs and ineligible for any tax credit for an adopted child without special needs. Please note that this does not occur until 2011 but we need to be aware.” I will do my best to explain what this means. 

In 1996 a non-refundable tax credit for $6,000 was introduced to help defray the cost of adopting a child with special needs for adoptive parents. A $5,000 credit was introduced for adoptive parents adopting a non-special needs child. This credit is referred to as SBJPA. The $5,000 credit for adopting non- special needs children was to sunset on December 31, 2001. In 2001, Congress passed the EGTRRA bill (Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act) which increased both credits to $10,000 for all adoptions. It also raised the phase out income limit to $150,000 – $190,000 annual adjusted gross income. The 2001 EGTRRA bill will sunset on December 31, 2011. From what I understand, this means a few things:

1.Because the original SBJPA bill from 1996 concerning special needs adoptions and the $6,000 tax credit never expired, it will revert back to its original credit of $6,000 beginning in 2011. For those reporting more than $115,000 annual adjusted gross income they will not be allowed to claim the credit. 

2. On December 31, 2001, the SBJPA $5,000 tax credit for adopting a non-special needs child expired. This means that there will not be a tax credit of any amount for adoptive parents adopting a non-special needs child beginning on December 31, 2010. The only credit available will be for parents adopting a child with special needs and the credit will be for $6,000. 

3. If your adoption finalized before December 31, 2010, then you can continue to claim the tax credit on your taxes past 2011, because the bill was still in effect when your adoption finalized, with the understanding that you still qualify. 

Click here to read the National Council of Adoption publication published in November 2008 concerning this topic. I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions, please ask me and I will do my best to find the answer.

Adoption Agency Fees

I received an email from an adoption agency, Hands Across The Water announcing that they have increased their fees for 2009. However, they also stated that since I received their information packet in 2008, they would honor the 2008 fees until February 1, 2009. I thought this information might be helpful for those of you who may be signing a contract with an adoption agency this month. If your agency has increased their fees as well, you might try asking them to honor their 2008 fees since that is what you were basing your budget on, assuming you received the information from them in 2008. If anyone has decided to began their adoption process this month, I would love to hear about it! Are you pursuing domestic, international, private, what agency are you with or anything else you might have to offer!

Joint Council Call To Action: Vietnam

Adoptive Families magazine announced a way that we can help Vietnam re-open their doors to intercountry adoption. Senator Mary Landreiu of Louisiana and Norm Coleman of Minnesota are sending a letter on Wednesday, January 7th to the Prime Minister of Vietnam, requesting that he continue to participate in negotiations regarding intercountry adoption. If you have an interest in helping to support this cause you can send an email to your Senator and Representative urging them to add their signature to the letter. Here is the email I received from Adoptive Families Magazine, it will give you links to contact your Senator and Reps. I encourage you to do this today, every little bit helps. The deadline is TOMORROW! 

 

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Joint Council Call to Action: Vietnam For the thousands of Vietnamese children living outside of a family, intercountry adoption is no longer an option. Please help the Joint Council on International Children’s Services change this by participating in their Call to Action.  Senators Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Norm Coleman of Minnesota will be forwarding a letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam, to encourage Vietnam’s continued participation in negotiations on intercountry adoption. The letter will express Congressional support for the continuation of intercountry adoption. Between Monday, January 5th and Wednesday, January 7th, you can support this important initiative through the following methods.     1. Contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators and ask them to sign  the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam regarding the future of intercountry  adoptions from Vietnam. Also, note that if they are interested in signing, they  should contact Sarada Peri from Senator Landrieu’s office(Sarada_Peri@landrieu.senate.gov) by Wednesday, January 7th. For a list of  Senators and Congressman that have signed the letter as of the time of this  writing, please see below. You can find your Senators’ phone numbers and e-mail addresses at www.senate.gov. You can find your Representatives’ phone numbers and e-mail addresses at www.house.gov. 2. Send a notice of support (and ensure that you receive updates on this initiative)via the Joint Council website.   Click “Sign me up for Joint Council news.” Under the communications preferences, select the drop down menu for“Newsflashes and Updates.” Click “Sign me up.” Fill in your information. Under the comment section, type “Letter to Vietnam Prime Minister.” Joint Council will also be forwarding the names of individual who contact us toSenators Landrieu and Coleman. The letter to the Prime Minister can only be successful with your help! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Joint Council staff via advocate@jcics.org. Please note the following Senators have already signed the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam as of 12/17/2008:  Senator Landrieu                                                        Senator Coleman         Senator Johnson                                              Senator Bill Nelson   Senator Oberstar                                                       Senator Akaka  Senator Lincoln                                                          Senator Roberts  Senator Lautenberg                                                 Senator Murkowski  Senator Menendez                                                   Senator Durbin  Senator Kerry                                                            Senator Klobuchar  Please note the following Representatives have already signed the letter to the PrimeMinister of Vietnam as of 12/17/2008:  Rep. Jim Oberstar                                                 Rep. Jerry Costello  Rep. Scott Garrett

Florida releases ban on gay adoption

Happy New Year to all my readers! I am back in the swing of things and will continue to post for 2009. I have big plans for 2009 and hope to bring you more information as well as recommend some wonderful adoption agencies. If you have any thoughts, ideas or questions place contact me. I am more than happy to talk! 

Now on to the news:

On December 4, 2008, a Miami-Dade circuit judge declared Florida’s 30 year-old ban on gay adoption unconstitutional, allowing a North Miami man to adopt two foster children he has raised since 2004. To read more about this news, click here . Florida was the only state that prohibited a gay individual from adopting a child (other states might  prohibit same sex couples from adopting, but not an individual).