Post-Adoption Resources

There are many different services available to adoptive parents. If there is a particular service you’re looking for information on and don’t see listed below, contact us and we’ll do our best to point you in the right direction.

• Adoption Tax Credit
• Adoption Subsidies and Financial Assistance
• Respite Care and Adoption Support Groups
• Training and Support on Parenting After Adoption
   

Adoption Tax Credit

The adoption tax credit allows adoptive parents of children in foster care to deduct adoption expenses from their federal taxes such as necessary adoption fees, court costs, attorney fees, traveling expenses (including meals and lodging while away from home), and other expenses directly related to the legal adoption of an eligible child. All children in foster care under the responsibility of a Title IV-E agency, including all children photolisted on AdoptUSKids, are eligible for this tax credit.

Since 2003, families who adopted a child with special needs from foster care could claim a federal adoption tax credit even if they had no adoption expenses. Other adoptive families are also eligible for the credit, but must document qualified adoption expenses.

The tax credit became refundable for 2010 and 2011, meaning the tax credit is one you get regardless of what you owe or paid in taxes for the year. Families who adopted between 2005-09 might also be able to benefit from this refundable tax credit as it was made retroactive going back to 2005. Families who adopted in 2003 and 2004 may be able to take some limited advantage of the credit, but will not benefit from refundable portion of it. Families who adopted earlier will not benefit from the credit if they did not take it already.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has more information about the adoption tax credit and necessary forms you need to claim it.

Adoption Subsidies and
Financial Assistance

States provide varying levels of financial assistance when adopting a child from foster care. Find out more about financial assistance that might be available to you by making use of Child Welfare Information Gateway resources below:

• Searchable database of adoption assistance by State
• State list of mental health service assistance programs
• State list of additional financial assistance for medical needs
• List of Web services that help you locate health care assistance
• Information on grants, loans, and tax credits for adoption
   

The National Resource Center for Adoption also has an archived two-hour webinar recording on Title IV-E adoption assistance that you might find useful. Please note this webinar was designed for child welfare professionals and that you need Internet Explorer to access it.

Respite Care and Adoption Support Groups

Respite Care

Respite care is the short-term care of a child in order to give the regular caregiver a break. Search for respite care where you live using the ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center’s national respite locator service.

If you can’t find a respite care opportunity where you live, learn more about how you can partner with public agencies to develop one by reading our publication Taking a Break: Creating Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Respite In your Community (PDF – 1.9MB) / En Español (PDF – 1.4 MB).

Since publication of our respite care guide, AdoptUSKids has awarded 120 mini-grants to parent support groups across the U.S. to custom-design and administer programs of respite care specifically for their communities. Grantees were selected, in part, because they met the requirement to have the endorsement of and partnership with their public child welfare agency. In 2012, we will publish a follow-up report about the respite programs created with these grants that have been successful in maintaining operations after AdoptUSKids grant funding ended.  In the meantime, learn more about the grantees and the AdoptUSKids Respite Program.

Parent Support Groups

Parent support groups provide the opportunity to network, share, and learn from other adoptive parents who are experiencing or have experienced the same things as you. Use Child Welfare Information Gateway’s National Foster Care and Adoption Directory to search for parent support groups near you.

You can also connect and share with other adoptive parents and prospective parents through our online community.

Training and Support on
Parenting After Adoption

Meeting many of the day-to-day emotional needs of a child you’ve adopted will be similar to meeting the needs of any child by providing unconditional reassurance, love, and support. However, there are additional things you’ll need to know to help a child you’ve adopted work through past traumas and loss. Child Welfare Information Gateway has a great list of resources for adoptive parents on:

• Helping adopted children cope with grief and loss
• General information on parenting after adoption
• Specific information on parenting after adoption from foster care
• A list of training opportunities for adoptive parents
   

If there’s particular service you’re looking for information on and don’t see listed above, contact us and we’ll do our best to point you in the right direction.