If you don't know, I'm the adoptive father of two beautiful boys and I can honestly say they are the best part of my life.
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As tends to happen with these things, I've also come to know multiple other adoptive families as well.
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We all have different reasons for adopting, but regardless of why we can all agree on one thing: Going through the adoption process SUCKS.
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Totally worth it, considering what waits on the other end, but it is a long, invasive, and (crucially) very expensive process.
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And that brings me to the political angle: The GOPs new tax plan eliminates existing adoption assistance programs.pic.twitter.com/rma4j1haC9
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I can say with absolute confidence that eliminating that credit WILL prevent people from adopting. No question. Because it's EXPENSIVE.
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So for many families that credit is the only hope they have of actually being able to afford having children.
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Now, you might say: "If they can't afford the adoption then wouldn't they struggle to actually pay for the daily needs of child?"
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Nope, it's orders of magnitude difference, depending on the exact route you take to do the adoption.
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Most people get funny about giving numbers, but I think it's worth it to drive the point home: Our first son cost us approx. $50,000
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That's mostly adoption agency and legal fees, but also travel, hotel, medical, and a bunch of smaller misc. stuff.
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And what you have to understand is that almost all of that is paid either at the point you are matched or when the child is placed with you.
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So picture being in the hospital, holding your new baby boy, in a different state, while lawyers are calling saying: "We need $30,000 TODAY"
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"...Or we can't start the process to let you keep the baby." That sounds malicious, but it's really just legal reality.
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And nobody gives out loans on babies. So tell me: If you needed to how would you come up with $50k in a lump sum?
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You probably don't just have it in the bank. If you're a Silicon Valley engineer like me maybe you have company stock. (Thank goodness!)
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If you're able to afford a house, maybe you can take out a second mortgage. (This is really common among families that I know.)
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And if not... well you can ask for donations from friends and family, maybe a few personal IOUs? I really honestly don't know.
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And for many families the only thing that lets them push through that MASSIVE barrier is the knowledge that they can get that tax credit.
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It's a non-trivial amount that it covers. Depends on situation but it can easily be 10s of thousands that comes back to you.
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Which may let you pay back a decent chunk of that second mortgage, or repay that friend that fronted you several thousand. It matters.
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And yes, that all sucks. It's worth it for the families that adopt, to deal with the financial strain to have a family.
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Even for me, a Google Engineer, adopting pretty much drained our financial resources at the time. I can't imagine how most families do it.
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So it's infuriating to see the "Pro-life, pro-family" GOP repeatedly make these kind of blatantly anti-family moves.
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(For the record there's a whole pile of bad in that tax plan. I'm just focusing on this one aspect.)
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So adoption tax credit goes away and families simply can't adopt any more. Period. Do you think people will stop having babies, though?
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Obviously not, and the tiny child tax credit bump in the plan won't change the reasons most parents place their kids for adoption.
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So realistically we're just creating more foster kids, which is definitely a bigger drain on govt. resources than the adoption credit.
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And in the meantime good families go without children and kids go without permanent homes. There's zero up side to this.
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And for what? So the wealthy can pass on their fortunes to their kids tax free? It's disgusting.
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