Following are some sources you should use to pay the adoption expenses and fees:
Your Employer
Many companies
offer adoption benefits to their employees.
The benefits range from extended paid leave to cash payments from $1,000
to $10,000. South Carolina State
Employees have benefits that range from $5,000 to $10,000. Ask your personnel director what benefits
your company provides.
Adoption Loans
The
National Adoption Foundation (NAF) offers low-interest adoption loans. They also offer home equity loans with no
closing costs. Child Welfare League of
America, A Child Waits Foundation (www.achildwaits.org),
Funds4Families, and MBNA also offer loans for adoptive parents. CapitalOne offers a low interest credit
card. Your bank may have a special loan
program for adoptive parents. The Abba
Fund is a Christian organization that provides interest-free loans to help
families who seek adoption as a way to enlarge their families. Contact these programs at the addresses
below.
Adoption Grants
The NAF,
CWLA, JSW Adoption Foundation, Fore Adoption Foundation, Little Flowers
Foundation, Love Knows No Borders, Shaohannah’s Hope (www.shaohannahshope.org), Kingdom
Kids Adoption Ministries, Sea
of Faces (www.seaoffaces.org), and The Abba Fund offer
adoption grants. Contact these programs
at the addresses or websites following.
Tax Benefits
Adoptive
parents may be eligible for federal tax credits; ask your tax advisor about
these benefits.
Assistance
with Children with Special Needs
Occasionally
we work with children for whom we have no waiting families. This may be due to a child’s handicap,
medical condition, older age, or being a member of a sibling. Depending upon
the severity of the child’s handicap, agency fees may be reduced. There also may be financial assistance from
the state and federal government.
You
We
encourage adoptive parents to prepare financially for their adoptive
placement. Disciplined savings, loans
and gifts from family and friends, home equity loans or lines of credit,
liquidating investments, borrowing from the cash value of insurance policies,
or borrowing from retirement accounts like 401k accounts, are ways to be
prepared financially for the day the child is placed in your care. Set up an adoption savings account, and look
for ways to make extra money. Let others
know of your plan and need. Work longer
hours, take a second job, sell a craft, market a skill, or hold a garage
sale.
Contacts for Financial Assistance
The Abba Fund
P.O. Box 1079
Waxhaw, NC
28173
www.abbafund.org
CapitalOne
www.capitalone.com
Child
Welfare League of America
440 First Street NW,
Third Floor
Washington, DC
20001-2085
www.cwla.org
Fore
Adoption Foundation
www.foreadoption.com
Funds4Families
800-451-3372
www.funds4families.com
JSW
Adoption Foundation
127 E. Main Street, Suite 5
Port Washington, WI
53074
877-905-2367
262-268-1386
www.jsw-adoption.org
Kingdom
Kids Adoption Ministries
1417 North Lincoln
Spokane, Washington
99201
509-465-3520
(www.kkadoption.com)
Little
Flowers Foundation
For
Catholic families only
www.littleflowers.org
Love Knows
No Borders-Financial Assistance for Adoptive Parents, Inc.
76 Grist Mill Road
Monroe, Connecticut
06468
203-459-4575
www.loveknowsnoborders.com
MBNA Bank
www.mbna.com
National
Adoption Foundation
100 Mill Plain Road, 3rd Floor
Danbury Connecticut,
06811
800-448-7061
203-791-3811
www.nafadopt.org
Christian Family Services only suggests the above contacts as possible sources, and makes no specific
recommendations about them.
