The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act

This is an important article from Adoptive Families:

You can make a difference for children in the U.S. and around the world by contacting your Senator and Congressional representative now! Urge them to support "The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2005," legislation to make the tax credit permanent. Unless legislation is passed, the adoption expense tax credit that allows many adopting families to take a credit of up to $10,000+ against their federal income taxes is scheduled to expire in 2010.

The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2005 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R.305; Rep. Wilson, Joe [SC]) on January 25, 2005 and the Senate (S. 246; Bunning [KY]) on February 1, 2005.

Last year, legislation to make the adoption tax credit permanent passed by an overwhelming majority in the House, but stalled in the Senate, making bipartisan support in the Senate imperative if this legislation is to become law this session.

Here's how to alert your Congressional representatives that you want their support for this legislation that helps so many adoptive families and children without homes:

Find the name and Washington, D.C. mailing address of your Representative and Senators at http://www.congress.org/. To find e-mail addresses, click through to the Senator's or Congressperson's Web site.

Next, log on to http://thomas.loc.gov/ to find out whether your Congresspersons are already co-sponsors of the legislation.
GO HERE FOR A LIST OF SENATE SPONSORS.
GO HERE FOR A LIST OF US REP SPONSORS.

If your representatives have not signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, send them your request that they do so. Tell them how important the tax credit was to you when you adopted your children, or how much you and other families you know are counting on it to be available in the future. Emphasize that the tax credit truly results in more children finding homes. Tell them that this is so important to you that you will be following the bill's progress through Congress.

INCLUDE A FAMILY PHOTO: While e-mails are valuable, a written note with a picture of your family or your children will be most effective. If sending e-mail, you'll actually want to avoid attaching a photo; the large size of the message and the attachment could, potentially, mark it as junk or harmful e-mail.

If any of your Congresspersons are already co-sponsors, write them a thank-you note. Again, letters sent by snail-mail with photos of your children will receive more attention.

GO HERE FOR SAMPLE LETTERS