Foster Care Adoption Benefits – The Adoption Tax Credit

One of the many things I lobbied for in Washington, DC was a refundable adoption tax credit aimed specifically at foster care adoption. It was opposed for many years as being "too expensive" and a "risky proposition" which would lead to the elimination of the non-refundable tax credit for foreign adoptions claimed by wealthy white adoptive parents. Among the many provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148) of 2010 was an expansion of the tax credit for adopting parents. A new factsheet from the Internal Revenue Service, Six Things to Know About the Expanded Adoption Tax Credit, provides details about the necessary ...

Echos of the Masha Allen case play out in a New York courtroom

I first wrote about the disturbing case of adoptive parent Judith Leekin back in 2008. Now new details of that case are emerging which share shocking similarities to Masha Allen's second adoption. According to the New York Times: More than 30 years ago, a Queens foster mother was investigated and cited for scalding a boy in her care. But despite that finding, the city did nothing in the decades that followed to prevent the woman, Judith Leekin, from carrying out one of the most brazen and disturbing child welfare schemes in recent memory. The failure of child welfare officials to bar Ms. Leekin from the system after that 1980 episode is one of the ...

Adoption Tax Credit Update

The IRS recently posted new language regarding eligibility for adoption assistance or subsidy agreements. The IRS clarified the documentation required for claiming the Federal Adoption Tax Credit for special needs adoptions. The official language indicates that Adoption Assistance or Subsidy Agreements are acceptable documentation of special needs. Visit the IRS website to learn more. According to Voice for Adoption, the Federal Adoption Tax Credit is now refundable. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) made significant, short term, changes to the adoption tax credit. The credit per-child is now $13,170 for adoptions ...

Promoting Stable Families Through Postadoption Support

Postadoption support services are vitally important to sustain and strengthen adoptive families. Adoptees with histories of abuse, neglect, or lengthy institutionalization may confront significant challenges throughout their childhood. Without ongoing assistance and support for the children and their parents, many of these adoptions are at risk of disruption or dissolution. A new report issued by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute reviews existing postadoption programs and identifies directions for the development of effective models of postadoption practices. The report, Keeping the Promise: The Critical Need for Post-Adoption Services to ...

Adoption, Toilet Seat Covers and Pet Rocks

After his toilet seat cover and pet rock ventures failed, Long Island attorney Kevin Cohen turned to another get rich quick business - adoptions. Cohen is accused of stealing $323,750 from 12 families and trying to take money from another family through a scheme involving non-existent birth mothers, forged documents and the impersonation of a bank employee and a personal reference. While Cohen was passionate about adoption, as an adoptee himself, "his true passion was money," said Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Andrew Garbarino who filed a 69 count indictment against the jailed former attorney. Garbarino described the process by which he ...

Feds award $39 million for increasing adoptions

Last week the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded $39 million to 38 states and Puerto Rico for increasing the number of children adopted from foster care. States use the funds from this adoption incentive award to improve their child welfare programs. "All children deserve loving, safe and permanent homes," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "It is gratifying that most states continue to excel in promoting the adoption of children from foster care. I sincerely thank every adoptive family that has welcomed a child into their home." States receive $4,000 for every child adopted beyond their best year's total, plus a payment of ...

ASFA Failure – Only 71 Interstate Adoptions Last Year

This just in from blogger Jeff Katz of the Huffington Post: The simple fact is that it is virtually impossible to adopt a foster child across state lines in the United States. In the most recent year for which we have data, states reported that only 71 children in the entire country were adopted from foster care across state lines by non-relatives. Why is interstate adoption so rare? The primary reason is that we do not have a national adoption system. Instead, we have 50 different child welfare systems, each with its own process for adoption eligibility, recruitment, approval, and training. Even worse, our current system has created profound ...

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