US Qualified Adoption Expenses Tax Credit

Depending upon your modified adjusted gross income, and a number of other factors, you may be entitled to claim an adoption tax credit on your 2011 tax return for your qualified adoption expenses.  Qualified adoption expenses can include court costs, attorney fees, adoption costs, travel expenses, etc.

If you have questions about whether you may be eligible to claim an adoption tax credit for the 2011 tax year, you may want to check with the IRS here:   http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=235825,00.html.  This link takes you to the IRS website where you can access Form 8839 (the Qualified Adoption Expenses form) and the instructions for completing Form 8839.  You may also find it helpful to consult with an accountant. 

Kazakhstan: President Nazarbeyev signs new Family and Marriage Code into law on 12/26/11

According to a January 13, 2012 post on the US State Department website (http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=kazakhstan_1), Kazakhstan's President recently signed into law the new Family and Marriage Code.  This is a big step towards possibly reopening Kazakhstan for intercountry adoptions in 2012.  However, before any adoptions might be able to move forward, several things will need to occur, including:

1. If you have a dossier in Kazakhstan and were not matched with a child before 12/15/10, you will need to refile your dossier in accordance with the requirements set forth by the Hague Convention.

2. An adoption process that complies with the Hague Convention will need to be up and running in Kazakhstan. At present, the Ministry of Education is waiting for government approval of its new policies to accredit agencies and process adoptions.  Apparently the details of the new adoption law were published on January 7th and became effective 10 days later (on January 17th).  The US State Department website, however, does not indicate that Kazakhstan is currently open for intercountry adoptions yet.

3.  Adoption agencies will need to go through an accreditation process in Kazakhstan before they will be allowed to process intercountry adoptions for foreigners wishing to adopt children from Kazakhstan.

Vietnam and Ireland -- Looks like another step has been taken this week on the road toward reopening intercountry adoptions between Vietnam and Ireland

According to the International Adoption Association (Ireland) website ( http://www.iaaireland.org/), there were meetings this week between the Irish Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and the Vietnamese Minister for Justice.  This appears to be another step taken towards reopening intercountry adoptions between Ireland and Vietnam.  According to Minister Fitzgerald:

My visit will coincide with an official visit by the Adoption Authority of Ireland, led by Mr Geoffrey Shannon to Vietnam where they will commence discussions on administrative arrangements for intercountry adoption between Ireland and Vietnam as provided for by Article 72 of the Adoption Act 2010.

The Minister said “I know a lot of Irish families have been very patient in regard to the long wait for Vietnam to complete the ratification of Hague. The re-establishment of our relationship with Vietnam in respect to intercountry adoption has been a priority for me since I became Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. I acknowledge the commitment of the Vietnamese Government to the establishment of a safe adoption regime under the Hague Convention and their continued commitment to engage with the Irish Government on this issue.  I am hopeful that the progress made to date will continue and Vietnam’s arrangements for the adoption of children in need of homes will involve Irish families into the future.

While in Vietnam I have a comprehensive schedule of official meetings with representatives of the Vietnamese Government and a range of other official engagements.
In relation to the possibility of intercountry adoption between our two countries I will meet with Mr Ha Hung Cuong, Minister of Justice and Mr Nguyen van Binh, Director General of the Vietnamese Adoption Department.


 

Nepal May Reopen For Intercountry Adoptions in 2012?

A recent article in Republica (a Nepali newspaper) states that after the 2011 closure, the Nepal government will begin accepting adoption applications from foreign prospective parents this year.  Here is an excerpt from this article:

REPUBLICA

ARJUN POUDEL

KATHMANDU, Nov 29: After receiving no application for inter-country adoption in 2011, the government has asked prospective foreign parents to apply for adopting Nepali orphans for the year 2012.

The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) has formally invited applications through concerned embassies, diplomatic missions and international adoption agencies for the first time after inter-country adotption was suspended in 2009.

The ministry had suspended inter-country adoption following disclosure of rampant irregularities in the process. Some European countries including USA had also suspended adoption of Nepali children indefinitely after revelation of irregularities. Before the suspension, the ministry used to receive more than 500 such applications each year.

“We have completed listing eligible children for adoption for 2012. Altogether 252 children are eligible for adoption,” the legal officer at the ministry, Sher Jung Karki, said. Children formally relinquished by the family will also be put on offer for adoption, he said.

Some of the children´s homes had stopped providing shelter to newcomer orphans since a year after foreign countries stopped taking in Nepali children. The children´s homes cited financial problems for stopping providing shelter to newcomer orphans. Foreign adoption is one of the main financial sources of the orphanages.

The government has also introduced strict measures after reports of irregularities in adoption were disclosed.....

You can read the complete article on http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=38929. 

In 2011, 63 children were adopted from Nepal and brought to the US.  But, the Nepal adoption process has been fraught with problems.  In 2011, Nepal did not take any applications for intercountry adoption.  Also, in November 2010, the US announced it would no longer allow the adoption of children who were allegedly abandoned in Nepal as the paperwork supporting these abandonments was generally unreliable and the circumstances surrounding the abandonments often could not be verified.

Hopefully, the article above is accurate and adoptions from Nepal will now be transparent and ethical.  If you are considering adopting from Nepal, please ensure you are working with a licensed and reputable US agency.  As the Nepal adoption process can be complex, it may be helpful to contact the US Embassy in Kathmandu for the latest information, including a list of the adoption service providers who are registered with the  Government of Nepal.  Apparently this list changes fairly frequently.  You can reach the US Embassy in Kathmandu at: adoptionsnepal@state.gov.

Great Interactive Intercountry Adoption Map

Founded in 2001, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute is a US-based non-profit "that works to raise awareness about the needs of children without families and to remove policy barriers that hinder children from knowing the love and support a family provides.  CCAI is unique in that each of our programs brings together policymakers and individuals with direct foster care or adoption experience.  We have found that when policymakers hear direct experiences of those affected by orphan and child welfare policy, they become engaged in this issue and work to bring about legislative improvements in an effort to ensure each child has their right to a family realized."  You can visit the CCAI website at: http://www.ccainstitute.org/.

This website also has a great interactive world map where you can click on various countries and immediately gain information about the current intercountry adoption status of these countries.  You can see this map here:  http://www.ccainstitute.org/for-members-of-congress-/country-updates-.html. 

Wonderful Source of Educational Resources and Toys for Children Adopted from Asia, Russia, India, and Africa

I first found Asia For Kids about ten years ago after I adopted my older daughter from Cambodia.  I was looking for children’s books written in English but with a Cambodian theme.  I struck out at my local library and did not find much at my local bookstore so I took to the Internet and came across Asia For Kids (http://www.afk.com/).  This online store sells over 3000 carefully selected items including books, games, cookbooks, dolls, holiday-themed items, puzzles, videos, and language teaching materials.  Where else can you find dice in Hindi, a Korean card game, a decorate your own Chinese lantern art kit, Hebrew, and Japanese, a Families of Vietnam video, and Dr. Seuss books in Chinese and English?

Here is an excerpt from the “about us” portion of their website:

 Welcome to Asia for Kids! We are committed to making your educational efforts easier. Our mission is to be the best global resource for teaching Asian languages and cultures. We review thousands of products and choose only the best quality for you. Your satisfaction is guaranteed! Our awards from the Parents' Choice Foundation and the Multicultural Publishers and Education Council will assure you of our efforts and commitment to provide authentic multicultural materials that educate and build self-esteem.
Our collection includes books, language textbooks, videos & DVD, audio CD, software, crafts, dolls, games, posters, crafts, t-shirts and resource materials for parents and teachers. The countries/cultures covered are: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Taiwan, Thailand, Hmong, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Middle East, Bali, Indonesia, Nepal, Burma/Myanmar, and Tibet. We offer the materials in many languages: English, Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese), Japanese, Korean, Hmong, Vietnamese, Lao, Khmer (Cambodian), Filipino (Tagalog), Thai, Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Spanish, Arabic, French & Indonesian.

Have fun shopping!

Intercountry Adoptions -- a 7 year downward trend

The US Department of State recently released its Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption.  (You can see the entire report at http://adoption.state.gov/content/pdf/fy2011_annual_report.pdf.)  One of the striking items in this report is the multi-year decline in the number of intercountry adoptions.  During FY 2011 (which ran from 10/1/10 to 9/30/11), 9,319 children were adopted overseas by Americans.  China represented 2,587 of these adoptions while Ethiopia accounted for 1,732 and Russia represented 962.  Together, these three countries comprised just over 56% of all intercountry adoptions into the US. 

The numbers for FY 2011, however, are lower than any since at least 1999 when the US State Department began publicly releasing intercountry adoption data.  In 1999, there were 15,719 intercountry adoptions in which children from overseas were adopted into the US.  This number climbed each year until 2004 when 22,991 intercountry adoptions occurred.  (http://adoption.state.gov/about_us/statistics.php)  In 2004 alone, 7038 children from China, 5862 children from Russia, and 3264 children from Guatemala were adopted into the US. 

Since 2004, however, the number of intercountry adoptions has fallen dramatically.  Here is a simple chart I created to illustrate this decline.

    

Fiscal Year	Number of intercountry adoptions
1999	15719
2000	18857
2001	19647
2002	21467
2003	22991
2004	22991
2005	22734
2006	20680
2007	19608
2008	17456
2009	12744
2010	11059
21011	9320

  

There are many reasons for this decline, including the closure of several countries (Cambodia, Guatemala, and Vietnam come to mind) and the marked slowdown in non-special needs adoption processing in China.  Families adopting from China now wait upwards of 5 years for a non-special needs referral.  The China Center for Adoption Affairs’ most recent batch of referrals placed children with families who had log-in dates through August 10, 2006 (no that is not a typo!).  It should be noted, however, that families open to adopting children from China with minor special needs have a much shorter wait.  If you are hoping to adopt from China or are already in the midst of doing so, please check out http://chinaadopttalk.com/ for a wealth of current information about the China adoption process.

The number of “orphans” worldwide is estimated to be as high as 132,000,000 to 163,000,000 and as low as 13,000,000.  The wide spread in these figures results from the different definitions of “orphan”.  According to UNICEF (http://www.unicef.org/media/media_45279.html), the larger estimates result from counting children as orphans when they have lost one parent.  The lower estimate results from counting children as orphans only after they have lost both parents.  Regardless of the orphan definition used, it is clear there are millions of children on earth who no longer have their parents.  Many of these children are cared for by their extended families.  Others make their way to local institutions, end up in foster care, and/or are cared for by their government.  Unfortunately, some children are exploited, trafficked, abused, or left to fend for themselves on the street.

It remains to be seen what lies ahead for intercountry adoption.  There have been many efforts of late to make the intercountry adoption process as transparent as possible.  Also, several countries, like China, are now seeing some of their orphans adopted locally rather than internationally.  At the end of the day, though, the simple fact remains that there are many families around the globe who hope to build their families through intercountry adoption and there are many children around the globe who are desperate for a family of their own.  Hopefully, 2012 will be a year filled with improvements in the intercountry adoption process.  Here is my pie in the sky wish list for the year:

1. All intercountry adoptions are transparent and ethical.
2. The profit-motive is no longer a driving factor (or a factor at all) in intercountry adoptions.
3. The best interests of the child are always the foremost consideration.
4. Child-trafficking, exploitation, the purchasing of children, the solicitation of birth mothers, and all the other unsavory and devastating potential byproducts of intercountry adoption no longer occur.