Action Alert: Save the Adoption Tax Credit - Final Grassroots Message

Please see the final action alert of the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group's Grassroots Campaign:

Grassroots Advocacy Campaign

Calls to Action: Use this last week of the Grassroots Campaign to check congress.gov and see which Members of Congress have become cosponsors of S.1056 and H.R.2144. Use this opportunity to send those members a quick note in appreciation of their support. Tell them how important this credit is to your family and how much you appreciate their fighting to protect it.(View a sample thank you.)

In honor of Mother’s Day, send a final message to your own Members of Congress about the importance of parenthood through adoption. If you are comfortable, consider including pictures of your family to help bring the issue alive for the Members of Congress and their staff. As a reminder, here is a tool to easily personalize and automatically send a letter to your three Members of Congress.

You can find contact information for your two Senators and one Representative at senate.gov and house.gov.

If your members of Congress respond, please share their responses with us at info@adoptiontaxcredit.org.

For more advocacy tips, visit http://adoptiontaxcredit.org/advocate

President Obama Passes Legislation to Permanently Extend Adoption Tax Credit

Washington, DC—January 4, 2012—Late Tuesday night, January 1, Congress passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (H.R. 8), legislation that included a permanent extension of the adoption tax credit. President Obama signed the bill into law Wednesday.

Since it was established in 1997, the adoption tax credit has helped thousands of American families offset the high cost of adoption or meet their adopted children’s special needs. The credit was set to virtually disappear as of December 31, 2012. Earlier this year, the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group Executive Committee established four priorities for an adoption tax credit that is inclusive, permanent, refundable, and flat for special needs adoptions.

“By making the adoption tax credit permanent, Congress has renewed its commitment to finding a safe and loving homes for children in need,” said Kathleen Strottman, Executive Director of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI). CCAI serves as the Secretariat of the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group Executive Committee. “We are thrilled that three of the four priorities established by the Executive Committee were included in this legislation. Unfortunately, without making the adoption tax credit refundable, many adoptive families of foster children with special needs will not be able to benefit from the credit."

The bill permanently extends the adoption tax credit and income exclusion for employer paid or reimbursed adoption expenses. While official estimates will be released later by the IRS, the projected maximum amount of the adoption credit for 2013 is expected to be $12,770.

The benefits of the adoption tax credit reach beyond the children who are adopted. A 2006 study cited by the Children’s Bureau found that taxpayers save as much as $126,000 for every child who is adopted instead of remaining in long-term foster care. Significant savings to society are also achieved because children who are adopted fare better than those who live out their childhood in foster care. With more than 100,000 children in U.S. foster care waiting to be adopted, and countless millions of children worldwide without families, the continuation of the adoption tax credit helps provide love, safety, and permanency to many of these children.


The Adoption Tax Credit Working Group is a national collaboration of organizations and individuals uniting to support the cause of adoption by advocating for the adoption tax credit. We believe the adoption tax credit is an important resource to help children find forever families and make adoption affordable for all.

Hopscotch Adoptions Field Trip to Visit Congressman, Howard Coble

Last Friday, Hopscotch Adoptions staff took a field trip to visit our recently re-elected Congressman, Howard Coble.  For those of you that do not know Congressman Coble, he is truly admired and respected by all he has the opportunity to meet and work with. 

Hopscotch officially presented the "Save the Adoption Tax Credit" to his office and asked for his support.  It was a great opportunity for each of us as parents and professionals to personally reach out. 

Have you considered a family field trip to your Congressman's district office?  If not, its a great 'face to face' opportunity to remind our elected officials of the real children and families their support means so much too. Visit your Congressman today! 

A special thank you to Nancy Mazza, Congressman Coble's High Point representative.  She is gracious and caring of all his constituents.  She is amazing! 

Chapmans Address Saving the Adoption Tax Credit

The Chapmans are in Washington, D.C. today speaking with Congressmen and women about saving the adoption tax credit! (pictured here with Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina). Have you contacted your representatives?

Save The Adoption Tax Credit

Dear Colleagues,

Save The Adoption Tax Credit is one of the most urgent and important initiatives Joint Council will make in 2012.   We are actively participating in a number of initiatives designed to engage the US government in crafting policies favorable to families, children and intercountry adoption – the tax credit is at the top of the list.  Simply put – without reinstating the tax credit, many families finalizing in 2012 and all families finalizing in 2013 will lose over $13,000 in tax credits.  Obviously this will seriously impact the number of families willing and able to adopt children domestically, internationally or through the US Foster Care system.

Joint Council would like to thank its Partner organizations (listed below) who have signed on as members of the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group.  While we are thrilled to have 37 of our Partners joining us, our goal is for 100% participation from our Partner base.  If your organization has not yet joined the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group or you believe your organization has but is not listed above, please contact  Shari Cohey at the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (shari@ccainstitute.org) and become a member of the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group today.  The only way the Tax Credit will be reinstated is if we join together as a community.

• European Adoption Consultants, Inc
• Bal Jagat – Children’s World Inc
• Family Resource Center
• Forever Families Through Adoption, Inc.
• Angels’ Haven Outreach
• Gladney Center for Adoption
• Agape Adoptions
• All Blessings International, Inc.
• Michael S. Goldstein, Esq., LCSW
• Children at Heart Adoption Services, Inc.
• Resources4adoption.com
• Bay Area Adoption Services
• The Barker Foundation
• Adoption Learning Partners
• Sunny Ridge Family Center
• Buckner International
• Families Thru International Adoption
• Children’s Home Society & Family Services
• Lutheran Social Services of New England
• Welcome House Adoption Program of Pearl S Buck International
• Spence-Chapin
• Journeys of the Heart Adoption Services
• WACAP (World Association for Children and Parents)
• Children’s Hope International
• Wide Horizons For Children
• Adoptive Parents Committee inc
• Hopscotch Adoptions, Inc
• Dillon International, Inc.
• Golden Cradle Adoption Services
• Illien Adoptions International, Inc.
• All God’s Children International
• Dillon Southwest
• Americans for International Aid and Adoption
• Holt International Children’s Services
• Bethany Christian Services
• A Red Thread Adoption Services, Inc.
• Across The World Adoptions

Already joined the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group?  Here are some next steps…

1.  “Like” the Save the Adoption Tax Credit Facebook page and urge friends, family and constituents to “like” it as well.
2. Contact your member of the House of Representatives to ask for co-sponsorship of HR 4373, the Making Adoption Affordable Act (and urge your friends, family and constituents to do so as well).  For talking points, click here.  Remember, you can find your rep at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/.  A special thanks to our friends at the National Council for Adoption for the creation of the Adoption Tax Credit Advocacy Kit.
3. Add the “Save The Adoption Tax Credit” logo to your signature line (see image above).

Thank you all for your support of this important issue!
Rebecca

Save the Adoption Tax Credit

As we announced last Thursday, the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group, of which Joint Council is a member of the Executive Committee, launched Save The Adoption Tax Credit.   Simply put – without reinstating the tax credit, many families finalizing in 2012 and all families finalizing in 2013 will lose over $13,000 in tax credits.

Obviously this will seriously impact the number of children finding a permanent family  through adoption. 
If you have not yet done so, I urge you to;

1. ‘like’ the Adoption Tax Credit Facebook page
2. Use email, websites, blogs and twitter to urge your clients and supporters to join Save The Adoption Tax credit by ‘liking’ our Facebook page
3. Contact  Shari Cohey at the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (shari@ccainstitute) and sign-up your organization as a member of the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group 

The launch of this initiative is only the first phase of our collective efforts.  As we move forward, we will be reaching out to you through our listservs, Facebook and emails.

For more details on this extremely important initiative, visit;
http://www.facebook.com/AdoptionTaxCredit and  www.adoptiontaxcredit.org/

Please join us today!

Best Wishes,
Tom DiFilipo

Save the Adoption Tax Credit!

The adoption tax credit is due to "sunset" at the end of this year unless Congress and the Administration act. In an effort to Save The Adoption Tax Credit, Joint Council has teamed up with other adoption advocates and we now we are asking you to do the same. 

So how can you join us?  And how can you help?

1) Take a look at the attached letter from the Executive Committee of the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group.  It includes our mission and what we are supporting in terms of legislation.  If you agree that we should Save The Adoption Tax Credit, then become a member of the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group.  To join, please contact Shari Cohey at the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, at shari@ccainstitute.org or (202) 544-8500.  Shari will help get your organization registered as a part of the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group.  (Individuals cannot join the Working Group, but keep reading to learn what they can do!)

2) Promote the Save The Adoption Tax Credit Facebook page!  Tell your colleagues, your families and your supporters about our collective efforts, Ask them to ‘like’ the Facebook page and then send it out to everyone they know!  Facebook will be the Working Group’s primary means of communicating and rallying the troops.  So be sure that you ‘like’ it and help us build a large and vocal constituency capable of influencing Congress.

That is all for now, but there is much more to come. 

See you on Facebook!

Tom President & CEO