The Republican party wants to cut the adoption credit. The credit that is creating families. And by doing so, they will be cutting families. Plain and simple.
The adoption tax credit had previously been championed with bi-partisan support. It was argued that it was financially and morally better to have children adopted into families than to raise them in state custody. It was created not to fund private or international adoptions, but to encourage more people to adopt from foster care. To that, everyone said “Bravo”.
The reality is it has not increased foster care adoption. The adoption tax credit was built to get kids out of foster care. But this didn’t happen because there are thousands of kids still in foster care. While the entirety of the original intent was not met, it does benefit some of our greatest families – both those adopting infants and those adopting older children.
In Ohio, we have 453 kids and sibling groups waiting to be adopted. Nationwide, there are 100,000 waiting kids to be adopted. So while its original intent was not met, it still serves as a relief for families who have adopted from the foster care system.
I recently read a blog post called “But Adoption Is So Expensive!” An Adoptee’s Thoughts On The Adoption Tax Credit, and it really struck a chord. The blogger made the point that infant adoption, fraught with coercion, is expensive. But adopting children from the foster care system is free.
She also referenced The Donaldson Adoption Institute study completed in March 2017. The study concluded that there needs to be better options / counseling for pregnant people – they deserve to know ALL their options. At Choice Network, we are always making sure we have practices that are based on research and not on the old school, horrific ways of adoption of the past (we love The Donaldson Adoption Institute). In her blog she stated:
“A majority of them (women) were never told about social programs available to them from their state to help support them in successful parenting, and that same majority said that if they’d received more comprehensive information about ALL of their options, they would have chosen to parent their child instead of making the adoption placement.”
We agree! That's right! That's wonderful! But as I dug a litter deeper into the study, I saw that of the 28 participants, 15 of them had some college experience and 20 of them lived with a partner or were married. This is not the reality.
In our experience, almost none of the pregnant people we serve have college degrees at the time of placement, very few have had any contact with the father of the child and most are not married or living with anyone. Their access to resources look much different than a person who has received an education and someone who can help with kids at home. So though we agree with her statement, her words are right on and wonderful, the reality is... as the world stands now, they are just words.
The reality is the world and our systems don’t care about these people or their children. The resources are bare and hard to find. And when found, these resources are hard to jump through.
What’s even more appalling to me is that in this same revision, lawmakers want to cut the money that would give living, breathing kids a better chance at finding an adoptive home AND give money to unborn children by making them designated beneficiaries. Let me repeat that again: give financial benefits to unborn babies. These cuts aren’t about caring for the American people. About caring for women. About caring for kids. About caring for families. These cuts are about pushing agendas.
These revisions are just another blatant way of showing that our lawmakers care about the unborn child more than the born child. About the unborn child more than women. About the unborn child more than families.
The reality is resources are scarce, and some of our best adoptive families needed and will need this tax credit in order to help pay for adoption costs. For families who do not need the credit, they still support it. Because they know, even in good financial times, that support is essential for other great families looking to be parents just like them.
We had a recent family who said they were eligible for the credit but did not need it. We suggested to take it and donate it to support pregnant people who want to parent – give your words power. A $13,000+ donation could get one pregnant person on solid and stable ground. Don’t let lawmakers decide where that money goes, if you don’t support it and you are an adoptive family who can receive it – get it and donate it.
This system, this world is so flawed. If it were as easy as take from one to give to the other, I would support the revision. I stand on the side of the pregnant person. But, no lawmaker right now is going to say “Yes, let’s take money from adoptive families and give it to support pregnant people.” They won’t. What they are saying is “Let’s take the money and then give it to unborn babies.”
Lawmakers need to keep the adoption tax credit (and employer assistance). But it’s time we step up in this world and better support pregnant people who want to parent; pregnant people who want to place their children up for adoption; and, pregnant people who want to choose abortion.
If we really want keep more children out of the foster care system – and truly care for kids – lawmakers need to:
- Increase financial aid to low income people.
- Increase living expenses for people wanting to place their children up for adoption.
- Stop cutting women’s reproductive rights.
- Keep the federal adoption credit as is.
So with 100 percent confidence I say, cutting the adoption tax credit is cutting families.
Molly Rampe Thomas is founder and CEO of Choice Network, an adoption agency that trusts people and their choices. The agency is on a mission to change the definition of family through supported open adoptions, no judgment abortion conversations and active parenting resources and counsel. For more information, visit choicenetworkadoptions.com.
