Affording Adoption
Top Three Ways to Afford Adoption
For most families considering adoption, the cost is one of their primary concerns. However, there are many options available for families who lack the funds to cover adoption fees on their own. This article highlights the top three ways that AAI families finance their adoptions. Whether you’re adopting domestically or internationally, you’ll want to take advantage of these helpful ideas.
Funds for Families Loan (Domestic and International Adoption)
Adoption Associates, Inc. has joined together with West Michigan Community Bank to offer you the Funds for Families Loan, a loan specifically designed with your adoption needs in mind. The Funds for Families Loan assists families who desire to adopt, but may not have the funds it takes to pay the initial adoption fees. For AAI families, this loan bridges the gap between the time funds are needed during the adoption process and the time it takes to receive the federal tax credit/refund for adoption expenses.
Funds for Families payments are also lower than those associated with more conventional personal loans because families only pay the interest on the principal balance each month. The principal balance is repaid in a lump sum on or before the loan maturity date.
Note: Proceeds from the Funds for Families loan may only be used for adoption placement fees. Families still pay out-of-pocket for fees related to the home study process and international travel.
To learn more about the Funds for Families Loan, please visit our Funds for Families page.
Tax Credit (Domestic and International Adoption)
On June 7, 2001, President Bush signed the Hope for Children Act into law. This legislation provides a tax credit (an amount that can be deducted directly from taxes you owe) for expenses incurred when adopting an eligible child. This amount is adjusted annually and is currently $11,390 for the 2007 tax year. The limitations on the amount of income parents may earn in order to use the credit are also adjusted annually. Please refer to the current IRS guidelines to see how this may affect you.
The Hope for Children Act applies to all adoptions—both domestic and international; however, an international adoption must be finalized in order to claim the tax credit.
On a similar note, up to $11,390 paid or reimbursed by your employer for qualifying adoption expenses under an adoption assistance program may be excludable from your gross income as well. This amount is also adjusted annually.
To get more information on the Hope for Children Act as it applies to your own tax situation, please contact the IRS at 1.800.829.1040 or visit their web site: www.irs.ustreas.gov.
Networking (Domestic Infant Adoption)
While the federal tax credit may be the single largest help to families in financing their adoptions, when it comes to domestic adoption, networking is right behind as another fantastic way to reduce costs.
Adoption networking can be simply defined as the activities prospective adoptive couples employ in order to reach adoption-minded birth parents. This is usually done through word of mouth or classified advertising. Actively seeking a birth mother through these networking techniques is valuable for adoptive couples in three ways. First, it increases their chances of receiving a placement. Second, it typically decreases the amount of time they will wait to bring a child home. Lastly, when couples successfully find a birth mother on their own, the average family will save between $8,000 and $9,000 on adoption-related fees. Because of this, all AAI families are taught networking techniques during their home study process, and approximately 25% of them are successful.
When Ben and Susie decided to adopt, they immediately began to use the networking techniques that their caseworker taught them, and ideas of their own, in order to find an adoption-minded birth mother. They told all of their family and friends about their desire to adopt and added their hope to become parents into their Christmas letter. They also made business cards and flyers that they placed in restaurants, doctors’ offices, gas stations, and other public locations throughout their town. The couple even gave flyers to their family and friends who resided in other cities to place in public locations near them.
Their hard work soon paid off. “We found our birth mother through one of my coworkers,” says Susie. Her cousin’s son and girlfriend had infant twin girls, and they were considering adoption. “My coworker had talked to her cousin in the fall before the girls were born and at that time, the birth mother did not want adoption,” says Susie. But soon, circumstances in the birth mother’s life changed, and she began to consider making an adoption plan. “We gave my coworker a profile and business card, which were given to the birth mother,” says Susie. “After she read the profile, she called us Saturday evening and asked if we wanted to adopt her twin girls.”
Ben and Susie enthusiastically said yes and worked with Adoption Associates, Inc. to complete the adoption of the six week old girls. Their daughters, Ariana and Elyse, came home on February 21, 2007, and turned two months old the next day.
The couple waited only six months from the time they completed their profile to the day they received the phone call from their daughters’ birth mother. Because their networking efforts proved to be so successful, they also suggest that other families try to locate a birth mother on their own.
“God answers and provides in mysterious ways,” says Susie. “We never thought that we would find our birth mother, but God provided and touched the lives that needed to be touched. We would recommend networking, especially [by] telling your friends and family. You never know who they will talk to and how it will end up. The more information you have out there with people—talking, business cards, etc.—the better the chances that someone will know of a situation that adoption is the answer for.”
For more information about adoption networking, please visit our Adoption Networking page or call us at 616.667.0677.
