Something good out of DC? Apparently...

Lisa and I are luckier than a lot of people who want to adopt: we make good money and my company kicks in cash for adopting families. But for some people the costs are prohibative, and as a result more kids go without families than they otherwise might.

Blah blah blah -- here's the deal: the U.S. House wants to increase the tax credit for adopting families from $10,000 to $15,000. We support it even though it will be too late to help us, and there's an easy way for others to fire off a letter of support:

1. Go to www.house.gov
2. Enter your ZIP
3. Click on your rep's name to go to their website
4. Find the "contact"section and write in support of HR 1561.

And here's a sample to get you started:

Honorable _______,

PLEASE support HR 1561 -- the Childhood Adoption Act. We are adoptive parents, and we support HR 1561 for future adoptive families. I've included information on HR 1561 below. Thank you.

Melissa Miller
& Jacob Stohler

HR 1561 was introduced in April, 2005 by Congressman Ford of Tennessee to increase the tax credit to $15,000. The proposed Childhood Adoption Act, will increase the adoption tax credit and exclusion that the federal government grants eligible taxpayers for certain expenses paid to adopt an eligible child from $10,000 to $15,000. The Childhood Adoption Act will also increase the adoption tax credit for children with special needs from $10,000 to $15,000.

In addition, the Childhood Adoption Act will make the credit fully refundable in order to make the adoption tax credit more meaningful to people with lower incomes.

In addition, the Childhood Adoption Act will increase the total federal funds authorized for payment to states as adoption incentive payments for FY 2006, FY 2007 and FY 2008 by $43 million per year (to a total of $86 million per year). In addition, the existing bonus payment structure for those years will be doubled across the board.

Congress has long supported adoption. The Childhood Adoption Act builds on the foundation created by the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, the Hope for Children Act of 2001 and the Adoption Promotion Act of 2003.