Fiscal Cliff Examines How We Care For Children

Does this make any sense to you?

Average Earned Income Credit (EIC): $2,200

Adoption Tax Credit: $12,650  + Adoption Subsidy: $7,740 = $20,390

We are willing to pay a stranger over $20,000 a year to raise someone else's child who was poor/low income* but will only provide a tax credit of $2,000 to a natural family?  This is a 1:10 ratio.

* For clarification purposes, reference to an economic descriptive is to illuminate the fact many families cannot access mental health services for a child unless there is a voluntary child abuse case filed in the court.  Some states will call it "incorrigibility".  This is the only way to access funding for a child's mental health services because these services do not exist outside of foster care or private insurance companies refuse coverage.  Some have calculated foster care costs over $80 billion a year, majority reimbursed through Medicaid, because the nation refuses to talk about mental health.

The adoption child tax credit is a good way of helping children  but I only want to know why there is such a disparity.  The playing field needs to be leveled. 

Adoption Tax Credit Could Fall Off Fiscal Cliff

The adoption child tax credit is one of the many parts of the U.S. tax code that could change dramatically on Jan. 1, 2013, if Congress and President Barack Obama do not act.

Adoption advocates worry the During the President George W. Bush administration the adoption tax credit was increased from $6,000 to $12,650 and made refundable (meaning that even families who do not pay taxes can receive the credit.) This was part of a larger package of changes to the tax code, including rate cuts, that were set to expire in 2010. In March 2010, the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," extended the expanded adoption tax credit through 2011. In December 2010, Congress and Obama agreed to a two-year extension of all the Bush tax code changes, so they are now set to expire at the end of 2012.

Congress is currently meeting in a "lame duck" session and these changes, part of the so-called fiscal cliff, will be a large part of the agenda.

If no changes are made, the adoption tax credit will return to $6,000 and non-refundable. As many now know because of Mitt Romney's infamous "47 percent" gaffe, about half of wage earners paid no income tax last year, after taking into account all deductions and credits. These families would receive no help through the tax code with the costs of adoption if the credit returns to being non-refundable.

The adoption tax credit was also made "flat" for special needs adoptions to encourage the adoption of children in foster care. This means that families who adopt children who qualify as special needs can claim the full credit without having to claim qualified expenses.

A study by Mary Hansen, associate professor of economics at American University, found that because children raised in foster care have more difficulties as adults, each child adopted from foster care saves about $235,000 in costs to the government over the life of the child.

To raise awareness of the adoption tax credit, 139 adoption and child welfare organizations have joined Save the Adoption Tax Credit. For more information about the adoption tax credit, visit its website or Facebook page.

It should be noted that the Adoption Tax Credit and Subsidy was not calculated into the estimated costs of child welfare report. 2012 Estimated Costs of Child Welfare Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©