Oh my heavens! I can't even believe we are halfway through November and I haven't posted ANYTHING since the beginning on April. Seven months of silence.....and yet good news have come in that time!
I'll take more time to fill you in on the details of the new developments in our lives but the brief outline....
1. Our dossier was accepted on June 11 and we received our first waiting list number of #143. We moved to #142 on June 26. Aug 15 we moved to #138 and then most recently November 8 we moved to #134. It's slow slow slow slow progress, but movement forward nonetheless.
2. Liliana Mae Wanee joined our family on July 9, 2013 weighing in at 6lbs, 15oz and 22" long
We are in the process of setting up some online fundraisers other than our coffee fundraiser, so we'll keep you up to date on that.
Promise....I'll fill you in on the past 7 months soon!
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Just a short note
I checked in with our agency yesterday. Our family coordinator said she just heard from the lawyer working in Honduras on our agency's behalf -- our dossier has been translated and is now awaiting the approval process!! Unfortunately, once it is there, we don't have a way to know how much longer it will take to get our approval and waitlist number. We're just happy to know that it has been translated and is sitting somewhere waiting for someone to comb through all of our documentation.
Slow and steady wins the race :-)
Slow and steady wins the race :-)
Friday, April 5, 2013
The past two months...
Significant things have happened in the past 2 months :-)
February was our DTH!!! :-)
DTH = date to Honduras.....the culmination of our paperchase. We received our letter of approval from the Honduran consulate in D.C. at the beginning of February and by Valentine's day, our paperwork packet (dossier) was off to Honduras for translation and approval. From my own timeline goals we were about a month behind (mostly because of the delay in our psychological evaluation), but the Lord's timing is right and we trust that everything is still right on with His timeline which is exactly what we want. We're waiting for the dossier to be translated and then approved (or for us to be possibly contacted with the need for additional documentation). After that -- that is when we get our waitlist number. To get translated and approved, it seems for other families we know in the program it takes about 5 months. That means we may be welcoming our first Wanee child to the world at the same time we're getting our official waiting number from Honduras. Please pray that this process goes quickly and that there is no additional documentation requested that could slow the process!!
We feel so blessed to be able to have our family growing at the same time in two very different ways. And yet, in so many ways it is very similar. It is humbling to see these things unfold before us as we continue through the process.
1. The most common question we're being asked about our biological baby is whether we are going to find out the gender. Our answer is, "It'll be a boy or a girl" heehee...which is exactly how we're approaching our adoption. We've left ourselves very open for the Lord to place the exact child we are to have in our lives -- boy or girl, baby or toddler or preschooler--God knows what our family will look like and we are trusting Him to guide that. We are eagerly anticipating what He has in store for us.
2. We have an idea on the timeline of our adoption, but so much is up in the air. We're told 3-5 years, but who knows when things may surprisingly speed up or slow down with adoptions in Honduras. We are spending this time to be prepared for the time when we get the phone call, email, etc about our child being matched to us. Just the same, we know a pregnancy is 40 weeks, but unexpected things can happen (like our friend having their baby 5 weeks early!!) and so we are taking this time to prepare to be parents to an infant child. Time spent waiting should not be wasted with it just passing by....we want to be intentional so we are ready for what is in store for us!
3. We can't wait to meet both of these children. I know there will be an some sort of immediate maternal connection to the child I have growing inside once he/she is born.....but just as I day dream about what this baby will look like, what they will be some day, etc, I also daydream about our Latin love and who they will be, what their personality will be like, what will they look like. Our Latin love is already just as dear in my heart as is the baby in my belly and my heart beats anxiously to meet both of them!!
I could go on forever with the amazing lessons the Lord is teaching us and preparing us to be parents, both by birth and adoption. If you would have talked to us a year ago (well before we had officially committed to adopting and well into our acceptance of likely not having biological children), we could have never EVER dreamed this was how our life would be progressing.
God is so good to walk with us and surprise us with His ways along the journey. I am so blessed to be a child of His and pray that I will be a reflection of His character and love to our children that are on their way!
More to come soon (I promise) .....there are good things happening in the Honduras program :-)
February was our DTH!!! :-)
DTH = date to Honduras.....the culmination of our paperchase. We received our letter of approval from the Honduran consulate in D.C. at the beginning of February and by Valentine's day, our paperwork packet (dossier) was off to Honduras for translation and approval. From my own timeline goals we were about a month behind (mostly because of the delay in our psychological evaluation), but the Lord's timing is right and we trust that everything is still right on with His timeline which is exactly what we want. We're waiting for the dossier to be translated and then approved (or for us to be possibly contacted with the need for additional documentation). After that -- that is when we get our waitlist number. To get translated and approved, it seems for other families we know in the program it takes about 5 months. That means we may be welcoming our first Wanee child to the world at the same time we're getting our official waiting number from Honduras. Please pray that this process goes quickly and that there is no additional documentation requested that could slow the process!!
We feel so blessed to be able to have our family growing at the same time in two very different ways. And yet, in so many ways it is very similar. It is humbling to see these things unfold before us as we continue through the process.
1. The most common question we're being asked about our biological baby is whether we are going to find out the gender. Our answer is, "It'll be a boy or a girl" heehee...which is exactly how we're approaching our adoption. We've left ourselves very open for the Lord to place the exact child we are to have in our lives -- boy or girl, baby or toddler or preschooler--God knows what our family will look like and we are trusting Him to guide that. We are eagerly anticipating what He has in store for us.
2. We have an idea on the timeline of our adoption, but so much is up in the air. We're told 3-5 years, but who knows when things may surprisingly speed up or slow down with adoptions in Honduras. We are spending this time to be prepared for the time when we get the phone call, email, etc about our child being matched to us. Just the same, we know a pregnancy is 40 weeks, but unexpected things can happen (like our friend having their baby 5 weeks early!!) and so we are taking this time to prepare to be parents to an infant child. Time spent waiting should not be wasted with it just passing by....we want to be intentional so we are ready for what is in store for us!
3. We can't wait to meet both of these children. I know there will be an some sort of immediate maternal connection to the child I have growing inside once he/she is born.....but just as I day dream about what this baby will look like, what they will be some day, etc, I also daydream about our Latin love and who they will be, what their personality will be like, what will they look like. Our Latin love is already just as dear in my heart as is the baby in my belly and my heart beats anxiously to meet both of them!!
I could go on forever with the amazing lessons the Lord is teaching us and preparing us to be parents, both by birth and adoption. If you would have talked to us a year ago (well before we had officially committed to adopting and well into our acceptance of likely not having biological children), we could have never EVER dreamed this was how our life would be progressing.
God is so good to walk with us and surprise us with His ways along the journey. I am so blessed to be a child of His and pray that I will be a reflection of His character and love to our children that are on their way!
More to come soon (I promise) .....there are good things happening in the Honduras program :-)
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
So many things to praise God for!
Hope this update finds the new year starting as happy as it has for us!
Our first and newest update is that we're pregnant!
Holy cow! I know! We were certainly surprised when I found out I was pregnant right before Thanksgiving. I am 14 weeks along now and will be due at the end of July. With our agency we just had to submit a "Concurrent Family Building" application and our social worker needed to write a letter recommending that we were able to both adopt and have a child by birth at the same time. That was all just approved by our agency and so we're able to continue with our plans as originally laid out.
We feel so blessed that we have two children to expect now - they're just on different timelines :-) We see different challenges but also many blessing in the way our family is growing. Kyle and I were prepared to wait 2-5 years to bring home our first child -- God says our first child will now be home in 6 months! Now we'll be "broken in" and "experienced" (haha, are parents ever?) parents for when our adoptive child comes home. We are also thrilled that our children are guaranteed to have each other! We knew we wanted to have more than one child, but now it's a sure thing.
Second update is that we got our immigration pre-approval in the mail today!!
Cool story: Last week I called USCIS to see where our application stood that we sent in to them mid-November. We had our fingerprints done on December 10 and so I was beginning to worry that it was a month and we still hadn't been approved. I called the office and spoke to a very nice and helpful agent. She looked us up in the system and told me that we hadn't even been assigned a case worker yet -- this was pretty disappointing. She did say that she was currently working on her cases that had come in around the same time so she anticipated we'd be getting a case worker within a few days. I asked her to at least check that our fingerprints and such were all in the system -- she confirmed this, so that was at least good news. fast forward to the end of the day.....I had a message on my phone from the same agent I had spoken to earlier in the day. She said that when we hung up, the next application on her desk was ours! She worked through processing it, said it all looked good to her and it was just pending approval of her supervisor! She said she anticipated that it would all be approved within a day and we'd have the paperwork within the week. How amazing is that? God is so good!! What are the chances that our application was the next one she would get to and what are the chances that she would take the time to call me to tell me this?!
Even better news is that now we have our last official form. Now we have to get a copy notarized, certified, and apostilled -- the last missing piece so that we can finally get our paperwork to Honduras! Once we get that to our agency, the paperwork will go and we'll have a several month wait to be on the waitlist. During that time Honduras may tell us they need certain forms redone or resubmitted or that they need additional documentation. We're praying that none of that is required, but as we've seen thus far -- it's all in God hands and we trust that He is in control of it all.
Thank you all so much for your prayers! I hope that through these updates you can see what a wonderful God it is that we serve and how He can take care of even the smallest details in our lives.
Our first and newest update is that we're pregnant!
Holy cow! I know! We were certainly surprised when I found out I was pregnant right before Thanksgiving. I am 14 weeks along now and will be due at the end of July. With our agency we just had to submit a "Concurrent Family Building" application and our social worker needed to write a letter recommending that we were able to both adopt and have a child by birth at the same time. That was all just approved by our agency and so we're able to continue with our plans as originally laid out.
We feel so blessed that we have two children to expect now - they're just on different timelines :-) We see different challenges but also many blessing in the way our family is growing. Kyle and I were prepared to wait 2-5 years to bring home our first child -- God says our first child will now be home in 6 months! Now we'll be "broken in" and "experienced" (haha, are parents ever?) parents for when our adoptive child comes home. We are also thrilled that our children are guaranteed to have each other! We knew we wanted to have more than one child, but now it's a sure thing.
Second update is that we got our immigration pre-approval in the mail today!!
Cool story: Last week I called USCIS to see where our application stood that we sent in to them mid-November. We had our fingerprints done on December 10 and so I was beginning to worry that it was a month and we still hadn't been approved. I called the office and spoke to a very nice and helpful agent. She looked us up in the system and told me that we hadn't even been assigned a case worker yet -- this was pretty disappointing. She did say that she was currently working on her cases that had come in around the same time so she anticipated we'd be getting a case worker within a few days. I asked her to at least check that our fingerprints and such were all in the system -- she confirmed this, so that was at least good news. fast forward to the end of the day.....I had a message on my phone from the same agent I had spoken to earlier in the day. She said that when we hung up, the next application on her desk was ours! She worked through processing it, said it all looked good to her and it was just pending approval of her supervisor! She said she anticipated that it would all be approved within a day and we'd have the paperwork within the week. How amazing is that? God is so good!! What are the chances that our application was the next one she would get to and what are the chances that she would take the time to call me to tell me this?!
Even better news is that now we have our last official form. Now we have to get a copy notarized, certified, and apostilled -- the last missing piece so that we can finally get our paperwork to Honduras! Once we get that to our agency, the paperwork will go and we'll have a several month wait to be on the waitlist. During that time Honduras may tell us they need certain forms redone or resubmitted or that they need additional documentation. We're praying that none of that is required, but as we've seen thus far -- it's all in God hands and we trust that He is in control of it all.
Thank you all so much for your prayers! I hope that through these updates you can see what a wonderful God it is that we serve and how He can take care of even the smallest details in our lives.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
So Close!!! Happy News!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
We have good news! The day (or two) after writing the last update, our psychologist contacted Kyle and the corrections that needed to be made were completed by the end of the week! I'm pretty sure he got in touch with us so quickly because our physician (who originally recommended this psychologist) put in a phone call on our behalf to speed along his response. Thank heavens!
We also just received Kyle's birth certificate in the mail from California!
What this all means is..... We are sending our paperwork into the agency on Monday! We are still waiting on our immigration pre-approval form to arrive in the mail (we pray that any day now that will come) and we have another form that needs re-apostilled because Honduras decided to change the formatting of the form, BUT that's it! I can't believe how close we are.
Continue to pray that things progress smoothly over the next week or two and that our final pieces come together quickly. Our family coordinator will review all the documents now so that as soon as the immigration approval arrives and is apostilled and we get that sent in with the new form....then it can be off to Honduras!!
Once it is in Honduras, the waiting begins. We have to wait for it to be translated and approved. After that is when we will receive our waitlist number. That could take as little as 4 months and, honestly, as long as 8 months? We just pray that these last steps occur quickly and that the Lord moves our paperwork through expeditiously so we can receive that long-anticipated waitlist number.
We trust that in each of these steps the Lord is teaching us lessons. We are learning about patience, surrender and how to love a child we've never even met. We know we still have a long road ahead of us, but it all excites us so much!
Thank you for your prayers and we'll let you know when the paperwork is on it's way to Honduras!
We have good news! The day (or two) after writing the last update, our psychologist contacted Kyle and the corrections that needed to be made were completed by the end of the week! I'm pretty sure he got in touch with us so quickly because our physician (who originally recommended this psychologist) put in a phone call on our behalf to speed along his response. Thank heavens!
We also just received Kyle's birth certificate in the mail from California!
What this all means is..... We are sending our paperwork into the agency on Monday! We are still waiting on our immigration pre-approval form to arrive in the mail (we pray that any day now that will come) and we have another form that needs re-apostilled because Honduras decided to change the formatting of the form, BUT that's it! I can't believe how close we are.
Continue to pray that things progress smoothly over the next week or two and that our final pieces come together quickly. Our family coordinator will review all the documents now so that as soon as the immigration approval arrives and is apostilled and we get that sent in with the new form....then it can be off to Honduras!!
Once it is in Honduras, the waiting begins. We have to wait for it to be translated and approved. After that is when we will receive our waitlist number. That could take as little as 4 months and, honestly, as long as 8 months? We just pray that these last steps occur quickly and that the Lord moves our paperwork through expeditiously so we can receive that long-anticipated waitlist number.
We trust that in each of these steps the Lord is teaching us lessons. We are learning about patience, surrender and how to love a child we've never even met. We know we still have a long road ahead of us, but it all excites us so much!
Thank you for your prayers and we'll let you know when the paperwork is on it's way to Honduras!
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
The Ups and Downs...So Close, Yet Still So Far Away
I've certainly not been the most faithful updater, and for that I apologize. Between work, and now the holidays, and just other life things...it's been hard to keep y'all up-to-date on our process.
The Good News -- We are so close to being finished with our paperwork! I was hoping that everything would be off to our agency by this point so that with the first of the year it would be sent off to Honduras for translation and review. Unfortunately we're lagging behind just a bit.
Last Monday, however, we got to go to Pittsburgh and have our immigration pre-approval fingerprints done three weeks early! We took a chance that we could walk in and have them done. Thank heavens they weren't busy that day and we were done within 15 minutes. That will hopefully save us some time. Now we're just anxiously waiting for the I-600a to arrive in the mail. This form is the most important form we will have for the adoption. It is our approval to bring our child home from Honduras when that day comes. When we get it, we'll make a copy of it to go with our paperwork to Honduras, but the original stays in our possession. We're praying for quick processing of this form and that we have it soon!
At the end of November we were blessed to finally get our psych report in our hands!!! We were thankful to have found a psychologist who was willing to do the extensive evaluation we required for the adoption, but he was nearly impossible to communicate with about getting the report once we had our face-to-face meeting. Thank heavens that our family coordinator from the agency was able to put some pressure on and three months after we had our meeting, we finally had the document.
All of our paperwork has been certified and apostilled and we've found this process to be relatively easy, just expensive. We're just waiting on California to get us Kyle's birth certificate back, but Ohio and Pennsylvania were speedy quick with the processing of the documents we sent to them.
Other happy news is that even though there have still been hiccups in Honduras, it seems as though things are still moving through and families are still getting new waiting numbers (moving up in the list) and others are starting to receive referrals. There had been a long pause for a time while there was a government worker strike, but hopefully things have smoothed out for the new year and the process continues to flow. The country is also working harder to get more orphans "paper ready" or officially abandoned and available to adopt. With more children ready to be adopted, more families that can be matched with them to bring them home!
The Downs -- Our most recent "down" is that yesterday I sat down to read our psych eval out of curiosity. Now I know that I should have read it the day he gave it to us, but honestly, I didn't really want to read all of the psych babble about us. Our agency had already read it through before it was approved and we had to go through an additional interview with our social worker to clarify some things that the psychologist had written in our evaluation, so I honestly felt like I had a good idea of the things he said in it. Well, I didn't anticipate that he'd have numerous typos and grammatical errors or that he'd actually have details incorrect -- my parents' last name, and Kyle's mom's name spelled wrong for instance. It seems nit-picky, but the psych evaluation is the one thing that consistently seems difficult to get Honduras to approve - even ones that are perfect seem to be rejected for who-only-knows-why. I was devastated when I read it. I marked all the errors, but now we have to go through the hassle of trying to get him to return phone calls and emails (which was the problem in the first place when we were originally trying to get the report from him) and get him to fix these errors ASAP. I could potentially overlook the typos and grammatical errors - except that this document has to be translated and so it will be difficult for that person to properly translate if it is not written correctly....and the actually fact errors are not passable. Everything in every document has to match or it has the potential to be rejected. Then we have to get the document re-certified and re-apostilled because of the changes that have to made to it. All of this equals more time and money when we thought we were basically just waiting on our I-600a document. Just when I think I'm on top of every detail possible, stuff like this slips past me and it is so frustrating.
Prayers that you can join us in:
1. Kyle's birth certificate arrives in the mail with its apostille ASAP.
2. Our psychologist communicates with us in a timely fashion so that we can get him to make the necessary corrections and changes.
3. Once we have our new psych eval - the certification and apostille process happen very quickly so they can get to our agency with the rest of our paperwork.
4. Our I-600a arrives soon!
We hope that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you again for coming along this journey with us! I promise I will update you on how the above prayer requests are answered...
The Good News -- We are so close to being finished with our paperwork! I was hoping that everything would be off to our agency by this point so that with the first of the year it would be sent off to Honduras for translation and review. Unfortunately we're lagging behind just a bit.
Last Monday, however, we got to go to Pittsburgh and have our immigration pre-approval fingerprints done three weeks early! We took a chance that we could walk in and have them done. Thank heavens they weren't busy that day and we were done within 15 minutes. That will hopefully save us some time. Now we're just anxiously waiting for the I-600a to arrive in the mail. This form is the most important form we will have for the adoption. It is our approval to bring our child home from Honduras when that day comes. When we get it, we'll make a copy of it to go with our paperwork to Honduras, but the original stays in our possession. We're praying for quick processing of this form and that we have it soon!
At the end of November we were blessed to finally get our psych report in our hands!!! We were thankful to have found a psychologist who was willing to do the extensive evaluation we required for the adoption, but he was nearly impossible to communicate with about getting the report once we had our face-to-face meeting. Thank heavens that our family coordinator from the agency was able to put some pressure on and three months after we had our meeting, we finally had the document.
All of our paperwork has been certified and apostilled and we've found this process to be relatively easy, just expensive. We're just waiting on California to get us Kyle's birth certificate back, but Ohio and Pennsylvania were speedy quick with the processing of the documents we sent to them.
Other happy news is that even though there have still been hiccups in Honduras, it seems as though things are still moving through and families are still getting new waiting numbers (moving up in the list) and others are starting to receive referrals. There had been a long pause for a time while there was a government worker strike, but hopefully things have smoothed out for the new year and the process continues to flow. The country is also working harder to get more orphans "paper ready" or officially abandoned and available to adopt. With more children ready to be adopted, more families that can be matched with them to bring them home!
The Downs -- Our most recent "down" is that yesterday I sat down to read our psych eval out of curiosity. Now I know that I should have read it the day he gave it to us, but honestly, I didn't really want to read all of the psych babble about us. Our agency had already read it through before it was approved and we had to go through an additional interview with our social worker to clarify some things that the psychologist had written in our evaluation, so I honestly felt like I had a good idea of the things he said in it. Well, I didn't anticipate that he'd have numerous typos and grammatical errors or that he'd actually have details incorrect -- my parents' last name, and Kyle's mom's name spelled wrong for instance. It seems nit-picky, but the psych evaluation is the one thing that consistently seems difficult to get Honduras to approve - even ones that are perfect seem to be rejected for who-only-knows-why. I was devastated when I read it. I marked all the errors, but now we have to go through the hassle of trying to get him to return phone calls and emails (which was the problem in the first place when we were originally trying to get the report from him) and get him to fix these errors ASAP. I could potentially overlook the typos and grammatical errors - except that this document has to be translated and so it will be difficult for that person to properly translate if it is not written correctly....and the actually fact errors are not passable. Everything in every document has to match or it has the potential to be rejected. Then we have to get the document re-certified and re-apostilled because of the changes that have to made to it. All of this equals more time and money when we thought we were basically just waiting on our I-600a document. Just when I think I'm on top of every detail possible, stuff like this slips past me and it is so frustrating.
Prayers that you can join us in:
1. Kyle's birth certificate arrives in the mail with its apostille ASAP.
2. Our psychologist communicates with us in a timely fashion so that we can get him to make the necessary corrections and changes.
3. Once we have our new psych eval - the certification and apostille process happen very quickly so they can get to our agency with the rest of our paperwork.
4. Our I-600a arrives soon!
We hope that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you again for coming along this journey with us! I promise I will update you on how the above prayer requests are answered...
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Help save the Adoption Tax Credit!
I can't believe I didn't get around to posting anything in the month of October!! I have lots to update you all on in regards to our paperwork process, BUT for tonight, there is something that feels a bit more urgent to us. We're not typically ones to get on our political soapbox, however, this issue is one that is
near and dear to us along with many of the friends we have made through
our adoption journey.
Please read the following (though I know it is a little lengthy) and consider sending at least an email to your representative and senators. I've even included a sample letter that you can basically copy and edit to suit your needs.Members of Congress are back in their home districts until Congress resumes next Tuesday. We encourage you to use this opportunity to reach out to your U.S. Senators and Representative about the Adoption Tax Credit.
What is the adoption tax credit?
The adoption tax credit, which can be claimed for eligible adoption-related expenses, has helped thousands of American families offset the high cost of adoption since the credit was established in 1997. Since 2003, families that adopted children with special needs could claim the full credit regardless of their qualified adoption expenses. The credit has made adoption a more viable option for many parents who might not otherwise have been able to afford adoption, allowing them to provide children with loving, permanent families. With more than 100,000 children in U.S. foster care available for adoption, and countless millions of orphaned and abandoned children around the world, the continuation of the adoption tax credit is vital to providing love, safety, and permanency to as many children as possible.
In 2012, the credit amount decreased to $12,650. It is no longer refundable, eliminating the availability of the credit to some lower- or moderate-income families without tax liability. The 2012 credit may be carried forward for five additional years, applying to each year’s liability until the full credit amount is used or time expires.
Why do we feel like it needs to be continued?
The current adoption tax credit is set to expire on December 31, 2012. If that happens, many American families may not be able to afford the cost to adopt. Consequently, fewer children will find the loving, permanent families they deserve. Although the credit remains through 2012, many families will not benefit because it is not refundable. In 2013, the credit will decrease to only $6,000. What’s more, it will only be available to very few adoptive families.
Although many bills have been introduced to make the adoption tax credit permanent, they have never passed. Instead, it has always been extended or amended as a part of other pieces of legislation, including the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act in 2001, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act in 2010, and the Tax Relief Act at the end of 2010.
For more information, visit: http://adoptiontaxcredit.org/
How do I contact my representative?
On April 17, Representative Bruce Braley introduced the Making Adoption Affordable Act (HR 4373). If you are contacting your representative’s office, ask your representative to become a co-sponsor of HR 4373. There is no companion legislation in the Senate yet, so you can simply ask your senators to support an adoption tax credit that is inclusive, refundable, flat for special needs adoptions, and permanent.
Search for their contact information at:
It may be helpful to call the office and ask for the name and email or postal address of the staff member who handles adoption issues to be sure your message finds its way to the best person.
SAMPLE LETTER OR EMAIL
Dear Senator/Representative NAME:
I am a constituent in your district and I am writing to ask you to support the adoption tax credit, which is set to expire on December 31, 2012. Since 1997, the adoption tax credit has helped tens of thousands of parents offset the high cost of adoption, making it possible for them to provide children with loving, permanent families.
The adoption tax credit is especially important to me and my family because… (Tell Congress why you care. Your Members of Congress value your voice!)
If Congress does not take action, the current adoption tax credit will expire at the end of 2012. The credit will be reduced to $6,000, and will only benefit the few families that adopt children with special needs and have qualified adoption expenses. Most families adopting children from foster care, intercountry adoption, and domestic infant adoption will not receive any benefit. Without the adoption tax credit, many parents hoping to adopt will be unable to do so, and others will face great financial hardship. The adoption tax credit is essential to ensuring that as many children as possible find the forever families they deserve and ensuring that those families are in a more stable financial position to provide an environment where children can thrive. (In letters for your representative… Please become a co-sponsor of the Making Adoption Affordable Act (HR 4373) introduced by Representative Bruce Braley on April 17, 2012.)
The adoption tax credit must be extended to help as many children as possible find the permanent, loving family they need and deserve. And for 2012 it should be made refundable again so that most adoptive families will benefit from it. The best adoption tax credit would be permanent, refundable, inclusive of all types of adoption, and remain a “flat” tax for children with special needs.
On behalf of the countless children waiting to be adopted, and the many thousands of families that stand to benefit from the adoption tax credit, thank you for your attention to this important issue.
Sincerely,
NAME
CITY, STATE EMAIL ADDRESS / PHONE NUMBER
Please read the following (though I know it is a little lengthy) and consider sending at least an email to your representative and senators. I've even included a sample letter that you can basically copy and edit to suit your needs.Members of Congress are back in their home districts until Congress resumes next Tuesday. We encourage you to use this opportunity to reach out to your U.S. Senators and Representative about the Adoption Tax Credit.
PETITION TO SAVE THE ADOPTION
TAX CREDIT!
What is the adoption tax credit?
The adoption tax credit, which can be claimed for eligible adoption-related expenses, has helped thousands of American families offset the high cost of adoption since the credit was established in 1997. Since 2003, families that adopted children with special needs could claim the full credit regardless of their qualified adoption expenses. The credit has made adoption a more viable option for many parents who might not otherwise have been able to afford adoption, allowing them to provide children with loving, permanent families. With more than 100,000 children in U.S. foster care available for adoption, and countless millions of orphaned and abandoned children around the world, the continuation of the adoption tax credit is vital to providing love, safety, and permanency to as many children as possible.
In 2012, the credit amount decreased to $12,650. It is no longer refundable, eliminating the availability of the credit to some lower- or moderate-income families without tax liability. The 2012 credit may be carried forward for five additional years, applying to each year’s liability until the full credit amount is used or time expires.
Why do we feel like it needs to be continued?
The current adoption tax credit is set to expire on December 31, 2012. If that happens, many American families may not be able to afford the cost to adopt. Consequently, fewer children will find the loving, permanent families they deserve. Although the credit remains through 2012, many families will not benefit because it is not refundable. In 2013, the credit will decrease to only $6,000. What’s more, it will only be available to very few adoptive families.
Although many bills have been introduced to make the adoption tax credit permanent, they have never passed. Instead, it has always been extended or amended as a part of other pieces of legislation, including the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act in 2001, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act in 2010, and the Tax Relief Act at the end of 2010.
For more information, visit: http://adoptiontaxcredit.org/
How do I contact my representative?
On April 17, Representative Bruce Braley introduced the Making Adoption Affordable Act (HR 4373). If you are contacting your representative’s office, ask your representative to become a co-sponsor of HR 4373. There is no companion legislation in the Senate yet, so you can simply ask your senators to support an adoption tax credit that is inclusive, refundable, flat for special needs adoptions, and permanent.
Search for their contact information at:
It may be helpful to call the office and ask for the name and email or postal address of the staff member who handles adoption issues to be sure your message finds its way to the best person.
SAMPLE LETTER OR EMAIL
Dear Senator/Representative NAME:
I am a constituent in your district and I am writing to ask you to support the adoption tax credit, which is set to expire on December 31, 2012. Since 1997, the adoption tax credit has helped tens of thousands of parents offset the high cost of adoption, making it possible for them to provide children with loving, permanent families.
The adoption tax credit is especially important to me and my family because… (Tell Congress why you care. Your Members of Congress value your voice!)
If Congress does not take action, the current adoption tax credit will expire at the end of 2012. The credit will be reduced to $6,000, and will only benefit the few families that adopt children with special needs and have qualified adoption expenses. Most families adopting children from foster care, intercountry adoption, and domestic infant adoption will not receive any benefit. Without the adoption tax credit, many parents hoping to adopt will be unable to do so, and others will face great financial hardship. The adoption tax credit is essential to ensuring that as many children as possible find the forever families they deserve and ensuring that those families are in a more stable financial position to provide an environment where children can thrive. (In letters for your representative… Please become a co-sponsor of the Making Adoption Affordable Act (HR 4373) introduced by Representative Bruce Braley on April 17, 2012.)
The adoption tax credit must be extended to help as many children as possible find the permanent, loving family they need and deserve. And for 2012 it should be made refundable again so that most adoptive families will benefit from it. The best adoption tax credit would be permanent, refundable, inclusive of all types of adoption, and remain a “flat” tax for children with special needs.
On behalf of the countless children waiting to be adopted, and the many thousands of families that stand to benefit from the adoption tax credit, thank you for your attention to this important issue.
Sincerely,
NAME
CITY, STATE EMAIL ADDRESS / PHONE NUMBER
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