Adoptions – Employee Assistance Payments and Government Grants

In a previous post, I summarized Federal tax credits and income exclusions for an adoption. Tax credits and income exclusions reduce the adoption cost by reducing your taxes in the year the adoption is completed.

On the income side, I found a couple options that can be used to get money for an adoption. In these cases, the money is also provided after the adoption is complete. Here are the additional sources of income that I found and used for an adoption.

Employee Adoption Assistance – The program typically provides between $2000 and $5000 to cover adoption expenses. Twenty-four companies offer as much as $10,000 adoption assistance. Stanford University is among the organizations offering $10,000. Depending on which source of information one uses, between 9-20% of companies offer adoption assistance. Check with your benefits director as to whether your company has an adoption assistance program. Adoption Friendly Workplace has a search tool to find companies in your area that provide employees adoption assistance.

State Grants – In our state, this program is funded by the state and administered by the county. Our state’s program provides up to $2000 to cover out of pocket adoption expenses. It is worth checking if your state has a similar program.

For our adoption, my company provided $5000 and our state provided $2000 to cover our out-of-pocket adoption expenses.

Photo Credit: morgueFile.com, Jane M. Saywer

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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