Adoptive Incentives? Why are there so many programs to assist PAP's and so few to assist families?

Question

Every year there are published lists of "adoption friendly" companies who offer sometimes up to $10,000 to assist employees with adopting a child. There are hundreds of programs, fundraisers and grants for adoptive families. Extra tax credits and "adoption" assistance available through the government.

I have never heard of anyone offering someone $10,000 to maintain their biological child just because they had them. Aside from TANF, WIC, and welfare I can think of only a few other places natural families can go for assistance. Even the assistance offered through agancies is minimal and comes with catches (I have seen families lose kids to CPS after they asked for help - no abuse!).

Shouldn't there be more programs to assist natural families since poverty is the #1 reason children are places for adoption?

Answer 1

You've missed the point... The $10,000 offered by companies is to compensate the adoptive parents for all their costs, considering if they could get pregnant the cost of having a child would be covered 100% (companies offering this have good coverage for maternity too). It isn't about paying the PAPs vs preserving a poor family. It is about trying to compensate their employees who adopt in a similar manner to their employees who give birth.

Very little of our infertility treatment, and none of our adoption expenses were covered. We are very fortunate we could afford to spend money on this. However I have significantly less in my savings account than my fertile coworkers.

Answer 2

Mostly because they are going to take care of kids that are NOT their own...They arent the ones that chose to have s*x and make the baby...They are offered assistance because it is hard to do much of anything with the child while in the process of adopting them. as far as getting the child on insurance,or anything until you are officially their parent...Most of the time the benefits stop shortly after the adoption is made official except i think you can get medical for the CHILD up until they are 18 (21 if in school) but it depends on the adoption "package" and the reason for adoption...for instance my mom adopted my neice because my sister got the baby taken away because she refused to care for her,left her in the car seat in her apartment with throw up all over her and dirty diaper and all....but because it was a family thing she got different benefits as opposed to those who adopt just to have a child....

As far as children being taken away (no abuse) by CPS...they have their reasons...physical/sexual abuse are not the only cause for a baby or child  to be removed from the environment if the parent cannot reasonably care for the child,financially or any other way CPS is well within their right to remove the child.They do give benefits to families in need but there is only so much the state can afford,so if the family still cannot reasonably provide for the child even with assistance,the state cannot leave the child there if the quality of life is not proper for the child to grow up properly...also if there are drugs in the house...as in quite a few cases,they automatically remove the child because of the illegal activities involved

Answer 3

Let's see a 10,000 rebate, a one-time rebate for a lifetime for adopting a child, which then you take full responsiblity for emotionally and financially.

Someone in need who needs assistance to keep their child for a lifetime.  

Health Insurance - $100.00 a month x 12 = $1,200 a year x 18 years = $21,600  (and this with no illinesses)

Food Stamps - $200 a month x 12 = $2,400 a year x 18 years = $43,200

Rent Assistance - $100 a month per child x 12= $1,200 a year X 18 years = $21,600

DayCare Assistance - $100 a week $400 a month x 12 = $4800 x 5 years = $24,000

School lunch program - $36.00 a week x 40 weeks = $1440 X 12 years = $17280

College Tuition paid for the poor - $10,00 a year x 4 = $40,000

So: 21600 + 43200 + 21600 + 24000 +17280 +40000 =

A Grand Total of:

$167,680

These are just estimate, some get more assistance.  So $10,000 is far less than what assistance people can get by keeping their children if they are poor.

Answer 4

Oh, but didn't you know, they're introducing legislation to now give "birth" MOTHERS a tax credit for surrendering their children where for the first year of the childs life the "birth" mothers ( and only the fathers if they were married ) and the AP's can claim the child for taxes.  The surrendering mother can claim the child for going through the "burden" of pregnancy with an unwanted child.

http://news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs...

Whoever yells the loudest gets the attention.

YES there SHOULD be more assistance to natural famliies since poverty is the number one reason. Its ludacris.

Answer 5

There are so many programs that do help "normal" families who don't have trouble getting pregnant.  

There is medicaid which pays for medical bills.

There are many food banks which give food to families that need it.

MANY companies offer paid maternity leave, and extend extra time off unpaid if the mother chooses to stay at home for a while.

MANY companies offer daycare programs for help with all kids, whether adopted or not.

The government has made provisions for the family medical leave act, which works for families, and keeps jobs open and father's ability to be at the birthing and first few days to take care of his partner during the baby's birth.

There are many housing assistance programs to help families.

In many, (not all!) cases, adoptive parents have to go through home studies, inspections medical tests, and have to prove they can support the child, have no history of abuse, and more, and adoption fees are typically upwards of $20,000.00 although some are cheaper.

In the case of impoverished people getting pregnant, why didn't they use birth control, and prevent my tax dollars from taking on another burden.  I've seen so many people in our city's low income housing that just SCREAMS drug use, with their fancier than mine cars, their stereos louder than mine (I'm a pro DJ), and their hairdos with more treatments and better haircuts than I spend on myself, and with 5 kids.  

I'm a middle class person, who doesn't get help with medical, although I have insurance.  My other half couldn't take the day off without getting points against him at his job because we were adopting and wasn't allowed.  The adoption grants and so forth are usually for families to adopt kids who might otherwise never get a permanent home.  It might be that the child is a little older, and has just lost that cute baby look (not a good reason in my book, but it happens), kids may have serious problems with drug abuse during pregnancy, and there are often many appointments, court dates, etc, to adopt a child, where a natural child's mother goes to prenatal visits, and to the hospital to have the baby.  

There are programs to help those that need it.  I've seen elderly who have lower income get more help than a man who gets $1100.00 because the person who has the lower income also gets food stamps, free medical, free hearing aids, glasses, dental, rent, and more. All in all, the person who makes less, actually has more available spending money than the person who made $1100.00 a month, because that person spends their money on food, medical, hearing aids, glasses, dental, rent/mortgage/insurance/taxes, etc.  This also is true for people who get welfare.

Answer 6

Nope when I had my biological children no one offered me any money--or even a guide book....

I also had the added benefit of KNOWING he was not exposed to drugs or alcohol before his birth--I also knew where he slept everyday of his life.... The $10,000 Tax credit is supposed to stop in 2010 because it was Designed to be used by parents adopting special needs children--however it has been mainly used by other adoptive parents for their adoption costs.

They are either going to stop giving the Tax cerdit or change the requirements to get it....

I can in all honesty say that I have actually lived both sides of this story... Heck one of the main reasons I decided to have my tubes tied was that I knew 1) At 22 it would be a bad idea to have a 3rd child and 2) If I ever had a finacially secure life I could adopt children from foster care.

I raised two kids on rice and beans and didn't get much help at anytime. Actually, even when my oldest had a serious life changing injury there was little support or assistance fincially--and he was in the hospital for months....

The primary reason for adoption tax credit or adoption assistance is to Help families be ABLE to add a special needs child to their homes. Bill Clinton wanted to make it possible for more families to Consider Adoption instead of assume they could not due to financial stress.

The children these funds were supposed to help are those with Special Needs... In some ways this is also another program funded where things are not always black and white and in my opinion too many children have been classified special needs.

Answer 7

yes they should offer birth control...education...and sterilization...we would not have such poverty if people would think before having kids...you need a liscence to drive a vehicle but any fool past puberty can make a baby !

Answer 8

Well, it isn't assistance we need in this country.  We need reform.  So that low income people can actually get by without relying on assistance programs.  Giant corporations are getting fat off the exploitation of the poor.  10% of the people in this country own 80% of all the resources!  Minimum wage should be a LIVING WAGE!

"Give a poor man a fish, he will eat for a day, teach him how to fish...etc."

Answer 9

No assistance to families in poverty?!  Aren't you paying attention?

WIC, Earned Income Tax Credit, Medicaid, SCHIP, Food Stamps, Free/Reduced school lunches, Public Assistance, Daycare assistance... just off the top of my head.

I mean, come on!  There's plenty of assistance out there to help families that need it.  And you're begrudging assistance to help with adoption fees?

Good grief.

ETA: By the way, the Adoption Tax Credit does have income limits.  So, the people with enough money to just write a check for the expenses don't get it, or don't get all of it.  Employee assistance money comes off the tax credit, so there's no double dipping.  Both are designed to help "Middle income" people with the initial costs of adoption.

Answer 10

Wow, I don't think it is like that here in Ontario.  There are loads of programs to help families, all families stay together.  I am able to write off a bit of my adoption expenses (except I had none I adopted from foster care) other than that all families are treated equal.  There are loads of programs (effective/non effective that is a different debate) for families to stay together, I mean if a person is in poverty that is not really a reason here in Canada to give your child up.  In fact their are rarely children "given up" anymore, most children up for adoption are done so through foster care with the parental rights taken away.

Answer 11

I agree that there needs to be many more programs to help those raising children in poverty.

We did use the $10,000 tax credit when we adopted our daughter. We would have never gotten it back though if we hadn't already paid it in in taxes. All we done was got some of our very own money back.

Answer 12

The $10,000 tax credit is to off set the cost of the fees that adoptive parents have to pay (sometimes in excess of $20,000).  As someone who just spent 6 months financially supporting the woman who was planning on placing her baby for adoption with us only to have her change her mind (which she is entitled to do), I am grateful that the tax credit will help me a little.  My husband and I exhausted our savings in our attempt to build our family.  I respect her and her decision and agree there should be more resources to prevent poverty but this was a woman who has had three unwanted pregnancies and is now relying on welfare and WIC to raise her children.  So, you are paying for her decisions after all.  I'm sure I'll get thumbs down...

Answer 13

That much touted $10,000 is comparable to what health insurance pays for an uncomplicated birth.

What most "adoption assistance" covers is the start up costs of adoption.  90% of adoptive parents get no help in raising their child.

Answer 14

I think we must have this cultural fear that if you give a man a fish, he'll only eat for a day.  People assume that if you help someone out, they won't really get anywhere, and you'll end up helping them out again and again and again...  But PAP's have already gone through this process, they have "proven" that they are willing to do whatever it takes to raise this child...right?  That doesn't mesh well with reality, but I think that a lot of things we do, as americans, are based on a fear of being taken advantage of on a large scale.

Answer 15

As corp. America says : Money talks "BS" walks, only in this sad statement , the poorer one walks with empty hands and womb.

Answer 16

Honestly, I think it's because the adoption industry is a huge money maker and they want to make sure they keep it going. Paying for things involving family preservation would lose the government money without any real benefits (sadly, to them, keeping families together isn't a real benefit). That's what you get when you live in a capitalistic society. Disgusting, isn't it?