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View Full Version : Some good reliable adoption links?



JulieL
09-23-2004, 12:21 PM
I would really like to educate myself about adoption. I need some good websites to read up on. I am cautious to google adoption cause I know that there are many out there to prey on wanting families. I have 3 family members who are adopted and see how much a blessing these children have been to our family. DH and I are ttc #2, but I am concerned that may not happen. For me it's not about being pregnant but adding more love to our family. I am not ready to discuss this with my family before we know if we are going to move on to this or not. Also money is an issue as DH is in his second year of med school and I don't know if anyone would give us a loan for adoption, kinda sad isn't it. Anyway thanks for taking some time out to read this and any help would be appreciated!

NEVE and TRISTAN
09-23-2004, 12:47 PM
Julie several weeks ago I linked a site that I think has every adoption link known to man. I forgot the subject but I think it was something like "Every niche found here" or something.

But it had pages and pages of links that linked to just about EVERYTHING imaginable.

It should be in a thread in this forum from just the past month or so...
let me know if you don't find it...
Loans are usually given based on if you can pay them back, I'm not in the banking business but I would think a nice banker would drool at the bit for you and your hubby's business...they woo ya young if you have a chance of a nice career...
MAybe one of his teachers or a senior student, resident can recommend a banker that they like and if he says their name the banker will know he was referred by an MD who he has a good relationship with. Many bankers get a lot of weight in recommending certain loans etc...

Keep in mind a tax credit of 10,160 to, good luck hope that helps.
Keep us posted...


Neve and Tristan born Feb 25, 2003
* EDD 3/19/05 IT'S A GIRL
* Adopting siblings in Ukraine 1/05

http://home.nc.rr.com/ourbabytristan

JulieL
09-23-2004, 01:00 PM
Thanks Neve for responding, I'll find your post

That's a great point about finding a doctor to give us a banker referral. I have a couple of friends who are doctors and residents so I will talk to them for a referral. And the tax credit is that how much the gov will give you for adopting? And is that for in the country or out of the country adoption?

NEVE and TRISTAN
09-23-2004, 01:41 PM
I'm not totally educated on the tax credit, so don't take my words like written in stone here since we have yet to use it.

BUT I think it is for any adoption expense if national, international.
And it is a tax CREDIT (not a deduction) on your taxes...so if at the end of the year you owe $11,000 worth of taxes you will really only owe that $800plus.
Now if at the nd of the year you owe $2,500 then you will get that $2,500 back and you will not lose out on the remainder of the tax credit in that you can carry it over for 5 years. So if for 5 years a family owes $2,000 a year then I would say that you would not be paying taxes for 5 years (federally).

I hope that helps...it is once an adoption is final...for us that is instantly at court, different countries I think have different rules of when final is...and we do not get it for the expenses this year unless our adoption is completed this year.

Also if someone makes more that $190,000 then it is prorated some and you do not get the full credit.

It's a whole kitten kaboodle and education on it's own but a nice thing to know about when money is the object (which it usually is in life).

Hope that helps :)
Keep us posted!!!!


Neve and Tristan born Feb 25, 2003
* EDD 3/19/05 IT'S A GIRL
* Adopting siblings in Ukraine 1/05

http://home.nc.rr.com/ourbabytristan

icunurse
09-23-2004, 01:42 PM
I have found a lot of great info and support at www.adoption.com. It has the whole range of people, from just thinking about adoption to people having adopted 8 children. They also have areas for domestic, international, and special needs adoptions. It's a good bunch.
The tax credit is for any type of adoption (you can get more info on it from the IRS site). Also, www.adoptionlearningpartners.org has an online class about it (it's free as long as you don't want continuing education hours for it). Depending on what type of adoption you choose (foster-to-adopt, special needs, domestic, international) and how you choose to pursue the adoption (through the state, lawyer, facilitator, agency), costs can vary from almost nothing to over $40,000. There are places that even offer loans specifically for adoption (I'm not very familiar with them), while other people I know have placed some fees on their credit card and paid them off when the tax credit came through. So, don't give up just yet. If there's a will, there's a way.

Traci
~Connor's Mom~

malie
09-23-2004, 03:26 PM
Okay some things to get you started

http://naic.acf.hhs.gov/ a lot of it is legal stuff but they do have some booklets that you can print out (or order I believe) http://naic.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/adoption_gip_two.cfm is on funding

http://naic.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/adoption_gip_one.cfm general fact sheets on different types of adoption

https://www.adoptivefamiliesmagazine.com/order/index.php adoptive family magazine has a lot of good links also


As for the tax credit. Here's a crash course. Since you already have a child I'm going to assume you already know how the child tax credit works (you currently get a credit of 1000 if your income is within the range)

Say my taxable income (after all my deductions and stuff) was 70,150 (that's line 40 of your tax form) (and you'll see why I'm using a number that high in a moment).

When I look up my TAX in the handy dandy IRS table it tells me my tax liability would be 11,164. Now of course I've gotten money taken out of a paycheck so it's not like I'm writing a check for that amount but that's my liability. But wait I have one child so I get that 1,000 tax credit and my tax liability is now 10,164. Now the line after the child tax credit (line 50 on your tax form) reads adoption credit. If I qualify (and basically unless your income is really high you would qualify at least some what) and I have matching expenses (which means I spend at least 10,160 out of my own pocket) and my child fits the criteria (with international you have to wait until the adoption is finalized..domestic is a bit different), I can now take that 10,160 credit so instead of a tax liability of 11,164-1000, I have a tax liabitity of 11,164-1000-10,160 leaving me with a liability of $4 on line 54 when I subtract that from the amount I paid to the gov't through with holdings I get my refund. So if I got withholdings at a normal rate I might be getting back a check for 11000 but if I changed my withholdings so less was taken out during the year I would get a much smaller refund.

Let's say my taxable income is much lower a comfortable 40,000 a year (again that's not gross that taxable). My liability before credits is only going to be 5,304 so after the child tax credit that would be 4,304 (or if I have 2 children 3,304). Now if I have 2 children I would use my adoption tax credit over the course of the next 5 years so for three years all things being equal I would use 3,304 of the credit and in the fourth year I would use the remaining 248 dollars.


I'm not trying to overwhelm you. Basically just explaining that you still need to pay for adoption up front but what the tax credit allows you to do is lower your tax liability (and of course in theory if you went into debt to pay for your adoption use the money to pay back some of the debt). So the gov't isn't paying you (for the most part if you adopt a domestic special needs child you get the total credit whether you spend 10,160 or not) to adopt they just are letting you not pay 10,160 in taxes for each child you adopt

http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p968.pdf
http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8839.pdf
http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8839.pdf

jubilee
09-25-2004, 04:21 AM
Thanks for breaking the tax stuff down! That was really helpful!

ghs517
09-26-2004, 10:06 PM
The best adoption education I found was through a combination of books as well as internet searches. The local library had "Adoption for Idiots" (or something like that, believe it or not) that was quite comprehensive, and I also *highly* recommend "Adoption After Infertility" by Patricia Irwin Johnson. this book is good to read even while TTC, as the first third of it really applies to one's plans and goals for parenting.

INCIID (www.inciid.org) has a set of message boards exclusively for adoption, and Pat Johnson moderates two of them. The INCIID adoption section also has an excellent reading list from which you might gather additional title ideas. There is also a board there for parents of both biological and adopted children.

Shared Journey http://www.sharedjourney.com/adptn.html might also be a good place for you to start.

Good luck with your journey!
GHS, mom to Bella, adopted in 2003 at 3 weeks