Virginia Adopts: Campaign for 1,000

Independent Adoption Center supports this effort, but we must also point out that Virginia’s “Conscience Clause” law prevents otherwise eligible families from adopting. Signed by Gov. McDonell in February, 2012, the law allows private adoption and foster care agencies to determine their own eligibility requirements for prospective adoptive parents. This has led to discrimination against qualified families based on their sexual orientation, marital status, age, political and religious beliefs.

In 2013, Virginia’s current law is not only anachronistic in its discrimination, it prevents children in the foster care system from placement with loving and dedicated parents. IAC joins the ACLU of Virginia, the Family Equality Council, and others, in urging Gov. McDonell to end this policy of discrimination, and to revise adoption law in Virginia to truly put the best interests of the children first.

HB 201 Author Rep. Rafael Anchia of Dallas

The law as it stands today only hurts the rights of children in Texas by preventing them from obtaining a single document listing both of their legal parents. In some cases, the Texas BVS has refused to issue a birth certificate at all! By fixing this administrative roadblock, adoptee’s would be able to travel with either of their legal parents, register at school with either parent, and be able to legally inherit from both parents. These are all human rights that must be given to all adoptee’s without discrimination.

In summary, this bill will correct the current injustice done to adoptees of same-sex parents in Texas. The HB201 fact sheet sums it up perfectly: “It is wickedly wrong to use children as pawns in a political game.”

We couldn’t agree more. Texans, please contact your representative and urge them to support HB201.

Hurry up and wait. I am not sure there is a better phrase to describe the adoption process. There is no known equation to determine how long the wait might last. The time spent waiting has the potential to lead some down a path of self-reflection and endless questioning. I often see posts made by other waiting families that have even started questioning whether they will become parents at all. An adoption agency, a facilitator, and an attorney put in a lot of effort in representing their waiting families equally and positively. A waiting family can and should help promote their wish to adopt. The goal is standing out to that one expecting mom.

There are countless articles, blogs and recommendations for what a person could and might want to do while waiting to meet an expecting family. Designing picture books and profile brochures. Printing business cards with all of your contact information. Email, Facebook and Twitter, oh my! A simple Google search will produce thousands of pages of families and people who are trying to navigate their way through adoption. When we wrote our first draft of our profile letter it was twice as long as our agency recommended. I must say it is very difficult to condense everything you want to say in fewer than 1,000 words.

Click to read the full article at The Next Family.

John Eastman, Board Chair of the National Organization for Marriage

I hadn’t known it until just this week, but Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, President Ronald Reagan, singer Marie Osmond, actor Hugh Jackman, journalist Judy Woodruff, basketball great Magic Johnson and I all have something in common: Our families are inferior.

At least that is what John Eastman, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, suggested during an interview with the Associated Press about two cases currently before the Supreme Court regarding marriage rights for non-heterosexuals. Asserting that lesbians and gay men should not be permitted to wed because the primary reason for marriage is procreation, Eastman added, “Certainly adoption in families headed, like Chief Roberts’ family is, by a heterosexual couple, is by far the second-best option.”

Read more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-pertman/my-family-is-not-a-second-best-option_b_2884414.html

It is an adaptation of the original annual blog series, “Portraits of an Adoption”, hosted by author Carrie Goldman. She is a regular blogger for The Huffington Post, ChicagoNow, and Psychology Today, and her work has been featured by NPR, CNN Headline News, and a number of sources. Coming from all over the nation, these stories tell tales of laughter, excitement, anticipation, and unforgettable reunions,  making the series one not to be missed.

Stories like that of Chad Cottle who, after losing his adoptive mother in his mid-twenties, began the search for his birthmom and waited years to obtain his birth certificate after the Open Adoption Law in the state of Oregon passed in 1998. Joy overcame him when he finally learned his birthmother’s name, and without hesitation, searched on the internet for more information about her. The search led to a nerve-wracking but warm reception from his birthparents, and became an illustrated example of how technology has brought new possibilities to the world of open adoption.

On the other hand, some stories tell of those who still face the continuing challenges of the adoption process. Like Cindy, who placed her son Zachary for closed adoption with a local Catholic Charity and experienced isolation from not knowing whether or not she was entitled to the information about her child. Or the story from an anonymous birthmother who shares her anguish in agreeing to let a close friend adopt her baby with an open agreement to visit him anytime she wanted, but felt an overwhelming grief and isolation during the process and visitations. Stories like these emphasize the importance of working with experienced counselors who can provide support in times of need.

Overall, the series weaves a diversity of adoption experiences together, finding a common thread where adoptive parents, birthparents, and adoptees from all walks of life come together to share their stories of transformation through adoption.

For the full link to the series, click here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/portrait-of-an-adoption

Project Fatherhood of Children’s Institute, Inc., in conjunction with the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Family Services Program, is proud to announce the start of a new, weekly parent support group for GBTQ dads!

Interested in meeting other GBTQ dads? Looking for a safe space to have open & honest conversations about topics relevant to your parenting, &/or adoption experience? Welcome to the Project Fatherhood GBTQ dads support group! Each meeting features a specific parenting topic and provides an open space for dads to share their struggles, triumphs, and creative strategies and techniques that they have encountered on the journey through parenthood & adoption.

Free childcare is provided!
Every Monday
6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Village at Ed Gould Plaza
1125 N. McCadden Place
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Project Fatherhood of Children’s Institute, Inc. was developed to give urban, culturally diverse fathers an opportunity to connect with their children and play a more meaningful role in their lives. For more information please call 213-260-7607 or visit www.projectfatherhood.org

Here are the highlights of the Adoption Tax Credit.

• In 2012, the tax credit was $12,650 for each adopted child. In 2013, experts anticipate the credit to be approximately $12,770, but the IRS has not yet announced the exact amount. In 2013 the maximum credit allowable is $12,970 for each child.
• In 2012, to qualify for the full credit, a family’s income must be $189,710 or less. The legislation gradually lowers the amount of the credit for families with incomes between $189,711 and $229,710. Families with adjusted gross incomes above $229,710 may not claim the credit in 2012. The IRS has not yet set the income criteria for 2013, but experts expect it will be a modest increase from the 2012 levels. 
• In 2013, phaseouts apply for taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income over $194,580, and is completely phased out at $234,580.
• Families adopting special needs children will continue to receive the credit as a “flat benefit”, meaning they will receive the full tax credit without needing to document adoption expenses.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the credit is no longer refundable. This means that it only works to offset tax liability, or what you owe to the government. Removing the refundable aspect of the tax credit has the largest impact on low and middle-income families who do not have the large tax liabilities that higher income families do. Fortunately, any unused credit can be carried forward and applies to future tax liability.

“The Independent Adoption Center lauds Congress and President Obama for providing a permanent adoption tax credit for adoptive families,” stated Ann Wrixon, Executive Director of The Independent Adoption Center, “This is truly worthy legislation that every American supports. We hope in the future that Congress will make the credit refundable so that it also benefits the many middle and low-income adoptive families in our community.”

When we started our second adoption journey, we thought a lot about the result of our first one – our son, Uriah.

Looking at us as a family, Uriah stood out because he is African-American and the rest of us, including our daughters, Natalie and Siri, are Caucasian. Also, there’s a nine-year age difference between Uriah and his sisters.

So, we figured, if we were to going to adopt again, we should try to adopt another boy, with at least some racial mixture in him, of around the same age.

The agency we had worked with in adopting Uriah said it rarely attracted older children, so we decided to work through the state system in Ohio, where we live.

At the end of a four-year journey, we ended up with what we originally wanted. Malachi entered our family on July 24, 2011, and his adoption was finalized on Aug. 14, 2012.

So, you might wonder, why did it take four years? Therein lies our tale – a tale that might seem strange to nonadoptive parents, but rings true to those who have added to their families by nontraditional means.

It was an odyssey that included dalliances with the state adoption system, the foster care system and the independent adoption of newborns.

It was a journey laden with frustration, near-despair, interminable waits and unexpected costs, but – finally – success. Adoption is only successful if you keep focused on your goal, no matter how elusive that goal sometimes seems.

You can read the rest of the article on The Sharon Herald’s website.

Adoptimist offers a smart and affordable option for adoptive parents looking to quickly improve their exposure and visibility to expectant mothers who are considering adoption. Within minutes of joining, you can easily build and market a professional and beautiful adoption profile, with virtually no technical expertise needed. Their cutting-edge digital marketing efforts enable them to consistently expose family profiles to expectant mothers from all over the United States.

Some of the noteworthy features include:

• Expectant mother membership. Expectant mother visitors can easily become Adoptimist members too, allowing them to freely, safely, and anonymously converse with families. Expectant mother members can follow / save families to a list for easy contact access.
• Statistics & Ranking System. Families are provided with valuable statistics about their profile’s effectiveness and outreach. Adoptimist members don’t have to speculate about what kind of impact their profiles are making. They can simply view their statistics and make informed decisions based upon them.
• Supplemental Services. Families can choose additional advertising and services to help market their profile, including Pay-per-click internet advertising, custom domain names (i.e., www.youradoptionsite.com) for profiles, and Profile Analysis / Optimization by their adoption marketing experts.

They have three plans for families:

• Premium: Premium families receive an unlimited profile, priority placement on the Adoptimist website, placement on all their social networking sites, an 800 number, and one-on-one support from their staff. The monthly fee is $150.
• Featured: Featured families receive an expanded profile, preferred placement on the Adoptimist site, and access to all  supplemental services. The monthly fee is $50.
• Starter (Free): Premium or Featured families that connect may wish to downgrade their plan to Starter as they explore their connection. This can save money and families can quickly upgrade again if needed.

IAC families can contact their adoption coordinator, refer to the client binder, or visit the client forums to get the discount code.

Open adoption agreements are legally enforceable in an increasing number of states. The IAC led the way in California many years ago with legislation making written open adoption agreements enforceable in CA. Of course, the relationship between adoptive parents and birthparents is built on trust, not contracts. The written (and enforceable) agreement simply outlines what the parties to the adoption have agreed upon for the lifetime of their adoption. It helps both sides to have clear boundaries and expectations.

If there is a dispute down the line that can’t be resolved between the parties to the adoption, the court would get involved to enforce the agreement (such as, for example, a yearly visit). The court would never vacate the adoption. The adoptive parents are legally the parents of the child, and that will never change, regardless of whether or not the agreement is adhered to. The adoptive parents also have the right to determine what is in their child’s best interest. For example, if at a certain age, the visits were upsetting to the child, they could be suspended.

So, with open adoption agreements, the adoptive parents retain their full legal rights as parents. They simply must also comply with whatever agreement they made with the birthparents about contact and visits. This provides protection for all parties, especially birthparents, who have no legal rights once an adoption is finalized.

Open adoption is about trust and honesty, as well as an ongoing relationship. Open adoption agreements don’t hinder the relationship in any way; they simply outline what the parties themselves have agreed to.

What do you think about open adoption agreements?