Adoption Blog

March China Waiting Children Program Referrals

Congratulations to the 15 families who accepted referrals through China’s waiting children program during the month of March! Some of these referrals were the last individual referrals we placed earlier in the month, and some were new shared referral group that arrived recently. Referrals were for boys and girls, ages 6 months- 13 years old. Some of the special needs were: cleft lip/palate, heart condition, limb difference, developmental delay and healthy older child.

Families who have a dossier in China and are participating in the WC program received a referral announcement email today. Please contact your Family Coordinator if you did not receive this email.

We continue to be blessed and honored to match families  very quickly with referrals. Families open to unrepaired conditions- including cleft lip and palate, can be matched almost immediately upon joining the program, as long as their dossier is ready. Paper-chasing families can still be matched on a limited basis until their dossier is ready.  Families who are open to adopting children, boys and girls, with special needs or a healthy older child are invited to email waitingchildren@awaa.org.

There are many referrals of children available for adoption on the CCAA’s shared system. We continue to try and place as many of these children into homes as possible and are thankful for families who  participate in this program. Please continue to join us in prayer for more families to come forward and for these children to find their forever families!

Extended Tax Credit for Adoptive Families

Dear Families,

There is good news for newly adoptive families from the health care bill that was signed into law on the 23rd.  The adoption tax credit has been extended until the end of 2011 and increased from $12,170 to $13,170 for adoptions occurring after January 1, 2010 (it's retroactive).  Even better, the credit is now refundable.

Bill text:
See page 903 of 906 at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3590enr.txt.pdf
If you find the 2409 page version, its on page 2400.  It's the very last section. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.3590

USA Today's brief analysis:

"Taxpayers who adopt children:  Effective in 2010, the bill makes the adoption credit refundable, increases the credit by $1,000 and extends the increased adoption credit through 2011." http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/2010-03-23-health-care-taxpayers_N.htm

China Program Newsletter

All families in the paper-chasing stage, waiting stage, or referral stage of their adoption should have received a newsletter by email from their Family Coordinator today.  Any family who did not receive this email should contact their Family Coordinator. 

Families should be receiving communication from staff on a regular basis.  If your family is not receiving emails, please be sure to check your spam filter settings to be sure that emails from @awaa.org are allowed to be received.  If emails are not being received regularly, families may need to contact their email provider to see if their email settings need to be adjusted.

Adoption Tax Credit Letter Template

Recently, in our Adoption Tax Credit Information post we encouraged families to contact their congressman or senator, in order to ask them to work to increase the tax credit for 2011 and all subsequent years, as it is a very important resource for many families.  (You can find your representative’s contact information at https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml.)

In order to make this easier for families, here is a simple template:

The Honorable FIRST NAME LAST NAME
U.S. Senate or U.S. House of Representatives
OFFICE ADDRESS
Washington, D.C. ZIP CODE

Dear Senator LAST NAME:

My family and I are your constituents in NAME OF TOWN. We request your support of The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2009, H.R. 213 (FOR HOUSE) or S.2816 (FOR SENATE).

The adoption tax credit that this legislation would make permanent is very important to my family and me. Without this significant financial assistance, we would not have been able to adopt our beautiful son (or daughter), NAME.  I am including a photo of my son/daughter.

As you may know, adoption expenses can easily exceed $20,000, a significant sum to most families.  Without the adoption tax credit, it would likely be very difficult or impossible for many families to adopt.  Through this adoption tax credit, I believe that many more children will find new, loving families like my own.

I urge you to co-sponsor H.R. 213 (FOR HOUSE) or S.2816 (FOR SENATE).  This legislation is very important to me and I, along with other adoptive families across the nation,  will be following its progress through Congress.  Thank you in advance for your support of this legislation that truly serves children who need families.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME

The Adoption Tax Credit Information

The National Council for adoption has released a helpful, practical guide to the adoption tax credit.  The Adoption Advocate No. 21 entitled, “Tax Benefits for Adoption: The Adoption Tax Credit includes a complete explanation of and examples of how to apply the tax credit, as well as details on:  the history of the tax credit; current status of the tax credit; and pending legislation to extend the tax credit.  Please Click Here to read Adoption Advocate No. 21. Families who have questions on the tax credit should contact their tax advisor as America World is unable to provide tax advice. Families are also welcome to contact their representative and ask them to work to increase the tax credit for 2011 and the years to follow as it is a very important resource for many families.  You can find your representative’s contact information at https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml.

CEO Update

While our office is catching up from the huge snowstorm last week, I want to make a special mention of the China Waiting Children Program that was able to process over 20 referrals during the time our office was officially closed.  Thanks to Melissa, Aimee and the whole team who went above-and-beyond once again.  This team has helped complete over 50 referrals since the first of the year!

In many of the states where we’re licensed, we are seeking to add adoptive families to the Board of Directors.  If you live in CA, FL, KS, MN, NC, NY, OH, PA, or WA and would be interested in joining the state office’s Board of Directors, please contact Julia.Norris@awaa.org.  This only requires a few hours of commitment a month.

As of late last week, we have another family home from El Salvador – I spoke with the family and offered my congratulations on their new son.  Other families are still waiting to be matched and we’re working with the government to make this a reality.  I will be traveling to El Salvador and Honduras again at the end of this month to continue to follow-up on the initiatives we have in both countries.

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” -Galatians 4:4-6

-- Brian Luwis, CEO

China Waiting Children Program Referrals!

Congratulations to the 22 families who accepted a referral from the latest shared list that was released on February 8th. We are so excited for these families! The referrals that were accepted were for boys and girls, ages 10 months- 5 years old with a variety of special needs. Some of the special needs include cleft lip/palate, heart conditions, club feet, multiple special needs and other diseases. There continue to be many shared referrals available for review. There are also quite a few AWAA referrals available for review through this Thursday February 18th.

Families who are interested in joining the WC program should contact their Family Coordinator for more details. We continue to match families who are open to boys almost immediately upon joining the program. In general the wait time for a referral will vary based on the family’s age, gender and special needs requests.

China Waiting Children Program: Returning Referrals

Due to changes in the CCAA’s Waiting Children Program referral policies, the CCAA has asked all agencies to return any agency specific referrals that have been assigned to the agency for over 3 months as well as any referral files that are not currently under review by a family. Therefore, America World will be returning these referrals on Friday, February 19th, 2010.  All China Program families who are waiting for a referral and participating in the WC program will receive an email today with information on the referrals that are being returned. Any other family interested in learning about these referrals can contact waitingchildren@awaa.org  no later than Thursday February 18th by 5pm, in order to learn how to review the referral information.

In addition to receiving the referral information in an email today, all WCP families will also receive details on other recent changes to the CCAA’s referral policies. We look forward to continuing to assist families accept their referral through this program. We anticipate there will continue to be many adoptions though the WC program as the CCAA and AWAA are committed to helping waiting children find their forever families.

China Waiting Children Program

Additional shared referrals were posted on February 8th for the Waiting Children program.  America World’s China staff has continued to work during this week, even with inclement weather office closures,  to review and match families.  We will be sending all WCP families an email tomorrow to highlight additional information regarding the Waiting Children program.

Request from the CCAA

The China Center of Adoption Affairs has asked us to see if any of our families would be willing to donate bottle nipples made specifically for children with cleft lip or palate conditions. Families who are able to help can mail these items directly to our office in McLean, VA where they will be sent to China with our traveling families.

We would love to be able to help meet this need through our families. Please contact Kristen.Hussa@awaa.org if you have any questions.