The Adoption Advisor

The D.C. Council is considering legislation that would make adoption easier. The proposed legislation would:

• Eliminate the current cap on agency placement fees and thus promote more adoptive placements with DC residents
• Eliminate the necessity of a court action in DC in most cases in which a child has been adopted from a foreign country
• Make post-adoption contact agreements enforceable
• Establish a registry to facilitate voluntary reunions between adult adoptees and their birth parents.

I testified at a hearing on the proposed legislation which was held on 3/4/10. Here is a link to a copy of the written version of my testimony:

DC Council Testimony – March 4, 2010

Recently the National Council for Adoption (NCFA) asked me to provide my expertise on the issue of insurance for adopted children. The article I composed is linked below:

Health Insurance for Adopted Children

A story published in the February 19, 2010 edition of the City Paper in Washington, DC shows that employers do not always follow the law discussed in the above article.

Adopted Children Left Behind

On September 16, 2009, I was a guest on Dawn Davenport’s Creating a Family radio show. The show is both the #1 rated adoption podcast and infertility podcast on iTunes. The show was aimed at answering some of the key questions regarding independent domestic adoptions. Listen to the audio of the show below:

Independent Domestic Adoptions (Radio Show)

My article in the September RESOLVE newsletter discusses the recent increase in the number of independent adoptions:

Independent Adoption on the Increase

In the article I outline the factors that have led to this increase.

Another article that I wrote for Adoptive Families magazine gives a summary of the independent adoption process and some of its benefits.

Independent Adoptions

Linked here is a resource that I helped compile about the ins and outs of post-adoption paperwork for international adoptions. This resource includes how to obtain a birth certificate, social security number, certificate of citizenship, and all the other documents you need to verify that the adoption is final and that your child is a legal U.S. citizen.

Post-Adoption Paperwork

Here is a link to an article I wrote on the most common questions regarding the adoption expense tax credit, including its provisions for international and domestic adoption. It was published in Adoptive Families Magazine.

The Adoption Tax Credit

More Information on the Tax Credit:
A Federal tax credit for adoption expenses has been available since 1997. Unless extended by Congress, the credit will cease to exist on 12/31/10 for all adoptions except those involving children with special needs. The adoption community has always anticipated that the credit would be extended, but that expectation has now been tempered by the current economic crisis. Despite that impediment, there are several bills pending in Congress to extend the credit (S. 722, S. 2816 and H.R. 213 the text of which can be viewed at http://thomas.loc.gov). Members of the adoption community should encourage their elected representatives to extend the tax credit.

The amount of the maximum tax credit is increased annually based upon the cost-of-living allowance (COLA). Based upon COLA, the individual income levels at which the credit is phased out are also increased each year. For 2010, the maximum credit is $12,170 per child. Full details about the 2010 COLA adjustments, were announced by the IRS in Revenue Procedure 2009-50 that can be viewed at http://www.irs.gov/irb/2009-45_IRB/ar11.html (the relevant paragraphs are paragraph .03 and paragraph .14)

I am Mark McDermott and I hope you find the resources that I have provided here helpful. Please contact me with further questions.