This is the sad and frustrating reality.  But there is something you can do, right now, to possibly change this reality.  Voice of Love (VOL) is a campaign with the sole focus of advocating for the Korean international adoption quotas to change.  They support the Korean government’s efforts to promote domestic adoption, but “believe that it is impossible to advocate domestic adoption while imposing strict limitations on international adoptions. If adoption is a blessing when it takes place domestically, it is also a blessing when it happens internationally.”

This campaign is not asking for your money, all they need you to do is the following:

• ALL Korean adoptees and adoptive families please record a short (about 30 second) video describing how international adoption has blessed your life. Y0u can use a webcam, video camera, or whatever you have on hand.  Then, upload this video to Youtube.com and send the link to voiceoflove.korea@gmail.com.  Here’s an example of some of the videos on YouTube.  Honestly, this is an extremely easy process, which is why YouTube is so popular. Here is an easy and shortvideo explaining how to upload a video.
• Even if you aren’t a Korean adoptee or adoptive family you can still help, by sending a link to this blog (yes, the one you are reading right now and here’s the link for you to cut and paste- http://www.creatingafamily.org/blog/adoption-domestic-adoption-international-adoption-embryo-adoption-foster-care-adoption/calling-korean-adoptee-adoptive-families/),  (or the Voice of Love website(http://voiceoflove.org/), or the Voice of Love Facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/320976787942626/) to THREE people you know who have been touched by adoption in some way, and ask, plead, or cajole them to send it to three people.  This is a phenomenal way to reach Korean adoptees and families who may not be involved with the adoption online community.

Please help the children of Korea who wait and without your help will continue to wait.

Despite Vietnam’s initiatives to strengthen its child welfare system and ensure the integrity of its domestic and international adoption process, it does not yet have a fully Hague compliant process in place. We continue to caution adoption service providers and prospective adoptive parents that, to ensure that adoptions from Vietnam will be compliant with the Convention, important steps must still take place before intercountry adoptions between the United States and Vietnam resume. Adoption Service Providers should not initiate or claim to initiate, adoption programs in Vietnam until they receive notification from the Department of State that it has resumed adoptions in Vietnam.

The Department of State will provide updated information on www.adoption.state.gov as it becomes available. If you have any further questions about this notice, please contact the Office of Children’s Issues at 1-888-407-4747 within the United States or 202-501-4444 from outside the United States.

http://www.adoption.state.gov/

www.adoption.state.gov

An adoption tax credit is tax credit offered to adoptive parents to encourage adoption,

Section 36C of the United States Internal Revenue code offers a credit for “qualified adoption expenses” paid or incurred by individual taxpayers.The credit is now refundable as of 2010, due to changes included in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010[2].

Qualified adoption expenses

Qualified expenses include: adoption fees, court costs, attorney fees,traveling expenses (including amounts spent for meals and lodging while away from home), and other expenses directly related to and for which the principal purpose is the legal adoption of an eligible child. The adoption tax credit is per child, thus the credit doubles when adopting two children in the same year. [3] It is also important to note that this is a “credit” not a mere “deduction.” [4] A tax credit is a dollar for dollar reduction of federal tax, not a reduction of taxable income, such as with a mortgage payment.

Parents who adopt a child with special needs (meaning a child who receives adoption assistance/adoption subsidy) can claim the full credit without documenting expenses. (See the IRS FAQs, paragraph 2 of question 1 athttp://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=231663,00.html.) Parents will need to document the child has special needs, and this documentation can include the adoption assistance/adoption subsidy agreement, a letter from the state/county approving the child for adoption assistance/adoption subsidy, or a letter from the state/county child welfare agency stating that the child has special needs. See question 13 at the FAQs for information about documentation.

Limitations

To be eligible for the full tax credit, the adopting parent’s modified adjusted gross income cannot exceed $182,520. The taxable income may reach $222,520, but it is gradually phased out when in excess of $182,520.

The tax credit became refundable for 2010 and 2011. A refundable tax credit is one you get back regardless of what you owe or paid in taxes for the year.
Families who adopted from 2005 to 2009 may be able to benefit from the refundable credit because credits from those years can be carried forward until 2010. (Families who adopted in 2003 and 2004 may be able to take some limited advantage of the credit but will not benefit from refundability. Families who adopted earlier will not benefit from the credit if they did not take it already.)

For more detailed information, please visit the IRS site at:

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc607.html

You can also visit NACAC’s site for an explanation:

http://www.nacac.org/taxcredit/taxcredit.html

Federal Adoption Tax Credit—The IRS has released the 2011 form needed to claim the Federal Adoption Tax Credit, Form 8839. The IRS has also updated the instructions that accompany form 8839. Notably, the IRS has created a table (pg. 4 of the instructions) detailing what documentation is needed when filing for the credit, based on the type of the adoption. The IRS is also committed to updating the website regularly with future developments on the credit, including legislation enacted.

To learn more visit: http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=235825,00.html

The Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security announced today, July 13, 2011, that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov signed a bilateral adoptions agreement that will strengthen procedural safeguards in adoptions between our countries.

This Agreement will provide additional safeguards to better protect the welfare and interests of children and all parties involved in intercountry adoptions. Under the Agreement, only adoption agencies authorized by the Russian government will be able to operate in Russia and provide services in adoptions covered by the Agreement, except in the case of an adoption of a child by his or her relatives. This will largely eliminate independent adoptions from Russia and create a better defined framework for intercountry adoptions between the United States and Russia. The Agreement also includes provisions designed to improve post-adoption reporting and monitoring and to ensure that prospective adoptive parents receive more complete information about adoptive children’s social and medical histories and anticipated needs.

The United States is committed to working with the Russian Federation on implementing the provisions laid forth in this Agreement as soon as it enters into force.

The Department of State will publish criteria, procedures, and clear guidance related to the Agreement on adoption.state.gov prior to the Agreement’s entry into force.

For additional FAQs on the agreement, please visit adoption.state.gov.

The federal adoption tax credit was made refundable for the first time! This means all families who finalize their adoptions can claim this tax credit even if they owe no taxes at all.  The credit per child in now $13,170 for adoptions finalized in 2010.

Now that the credit is refundable even families who adopted eariler than 2010 but didn’t have enough tax liability to access the credit in those previous years can get this refund too.  Families that finalized their adoptions between 2005-2009 can carry forward unused tax credits to their 2010 return and claim it as a refundable credit.  

 * Visit the IRS (Form 8839): http://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8839/ch02.html   (This might currently link to the 2009 forms but the IRS will update the forms to 2010 later this year)

 * Visit the North American Council on Adoptable Children’s website page concerning this adoption tax credit:  http://www.nacac.org/postadopt/taxcredit.html 

• Female single applicants are allowed to adopt special focus children listed on the special Needs System of CCAA.
• One applicant can only adopt one special focus child at a time, with an interval of at least one year between two adoptions.
• The applicant shall have reached the age of 30 years and are under 50. For applicants over 50, the age difference between the child to be adopted and the applicant shall be no more than 45 years.
• The applicant shall provide her civil status certificate. Unmarried applicants shall provide certification for being single and non-homosexual; divorced applicants shall provide the divorce certificate of the last marriage; and widowed applicants shall provide the death certificate of their ex-spouse.
• The reason of being single and attitude towards marriage. Applicants shall have clear indication of willingness to appoint male figures as role models for the adopted child, and welcome male friends to join family gatherings.
• Applicants shall have received inter-country adoption training and training specifically for special needs child adoption so as to understand fully the physical and psychological needs of special needs children.
• Detailed nurturing and rehabilitation plan. Applicants shall be qualified personally and socially for caring special needs children and have wide social and family supporting network which can provide assistance any time.
• Guardians appointed by the applicants shall provide written statement as consent to act as the guardian of the adopted child. X. If the applicant has a stable relationship and lives with a male partner, t he requirements of couple applicants shall be applied.
• Applicants shall be healthy both physically and mentally according to the requirements by CCAA for prospective adoptive couples.
• Applicants shall be law abiding with no criminal records, and have good moral quality and conduct
• The family annual income shall reach $10,000 per family member, including the prospective adoptee and the family net assets value should reach $100,000.
• The applicant shall have good medical insurance which can cover the medical expense of the adopted child.
• Applicants shall be experienced in child caring or be occupied in child-related fields, such as doctor, nurse, teacher, child psychological counselor, etc. It’s best that the applicants have already had successful experience in caring for special needs children.
• The number of children in the applicant’s family under the age of 18 years shall be no more than two, and the youngest one should have reached the age of 6 years old.
• Applicants shall be fully prepared for adopting a special focus child.
• Social workers shall provide the following information fully and timely in the home study reports besides family visit interviews: Adoption motive. The decision to adopt a special focus child shall be well-considered. Applicants shall be capable of caring for a special need child and be responsible for the well-being of the child.

 It is with a very heavy heart that I write today to let everyone know that Cecelia K. Park passed away in her sleep on Saturday, February 19, 2011.  Services will be held on Saturday, February 26, 2011 in Pennsylvania @ 11:00 am. I will post the details as soon as they are finalized. Everyone is welcome to attend.

I ask that you do not call the LTC office.  To all waiting families, rest assured that the agency will remain open and will continue to place children and bring your babies home to you.