State offered adoption "credit"

One of the agency's that I contacted regarding the Bulgaria program sent me some information about financing your adoption.   While reading through it, I was pleasantly surprised to read about a State offered adoption credit.  I was completely unaware of this so I wanted to share it with all of you who maybe just adopted or are going to be soon!  Every little bit of extra money helps!

 

This is administered by the county and State Human Services Department. This program reimburses adoptive families (including international) up to 2000.00 of the adoption expense. This is not a tax credit or a tax deduction, but a check issued to you upon finalization of you adoption. The process of application is started prior to travel. The application can be obtained from the Human Services Office (keep asking, somebody will finally know

what it is you are wanting...) and is submitted showing who you are, who the child is, and why the child qualifies for this.

Normal reasons for approval in an international adoption include the age of the child (too 'old,') and/or that the child has been available for some time for adoption without placement, and/or that the child has some sort of special needs. This last category can include things like lack of immunizations in the country of origin (leaving the child unprotected from lifethreatening illness,) chronic illness that would not receive proper medical care (can include otitis, asthma, parasites...) and any sort of developmental delays.

 After adopting your child, you submit the finalized papers to the Human Services Dept. along with any documentation you might have on the child's special needs. This might mean a letter from your doctor, or even a letter from your agency or in-country facilitator stating what the child's situation had been prior to adoption and the presence of developmental delays caused by institutional care, etc. Please note: many states have such a program even if it is not "advertised".