Federal tax bill almost included elimination of adoption tax credit
The credit is not a refund. However, adoptive families may claim a credit of up to
As of
"With so many children waiting in foster care, we don't want to do anything to make it financially more difficult," My Father's Arrows founder
Adopting from foster care can cost little to nothing but the credit can still help, Ellis said. Private agency adoption can cost between
"I think people go the private route when they want a completely closed adoption. Often times, they also want an infant adoption. Most of the time, adoptions available through state are older kids and sibling groups. You rarely see infants for adoption through state out of foster care. Often times, they're adopted by relatives or the foster family."
Before the news came that the credit would remain, Ellis said adoptive families were mostly concerned for children left without a family.
"Think in general the concern was more kids would be left un-adopted because people would be concerned they would not have the financial means to prepare long term," Ellis said. "It really directly impacts the number of kids that could be adopted."
Many adoption proponents want the credit to be a refund as it was in 2010 and 2011.
"(That) was a huge help for adoptive families, something lots of adoption families pushed for," Ellis said. "It sort of mobilizes that money instead of a credit."
The idea behind eliminating the adoption tax credit was to instead raise the child tax credit, Brady said during a
"We had proposed really to...drive up the child tax credit in amount," Brady said. "For the first time give help to the parents (and) double the amount of people that could use it. So instead of an adoption credit for some once in their lifetime, we give help to families who don't itemize every year of their lifetime for those kids."
"I know everybody wants to be fiscally responsible but we need to keep kids first," Ellis said, "and I'm proud that they did."
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