Seriously, is this even wise? Who will pay the ultimate price is someone defaults on the loan? A state legislator out of Ohio is suggesting just this. This state just increased its adoption credit. Instead of putting families in financial jeopardy, why don't they take the money man out of the deal?
http://www.adoption.com/includes/frame.php?url=http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070620/NEWS01/706200413
COLUMBUS - The state Senate unanimously passed legislation Tuesday making it easier for Ohio families to adopt. State Sen. Eric Kearney, D-North Avondale, who sponsored Senate Bill 30, said it allows prospective parents to get state loans for all costs related to adoption.
Currently, 2,800 children are on a waiting list to be adopted in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Kearney said he hopes adoption rates will increase because of the bill. "This bill addresses a great need in the state of Ohio in a fiscally responsible manner," Kearney said during a floor speech. Parents are eligible to receive up to $3,000 - or up to $2,000 if the child is adopted from out-of-state. Statewide, total loans are capped at $500,000. The money comes from interest on a state unclaimed-funds account, primarily from idle savings and unclaimed insurance accounts.
Interest rates on the loans, to be repaid to an "adoption loan fund,'' will be determined later, according to Dennis Evans, a spokesman with the state Department of Job and Family Services.
"Ohio is moving to become one of the leading states in terms of adopting," Kearney said.
Kearney first introduced the bill shortly after he was appointed to the Senate in December 2005. Kearney and his wife adopted a son, Asher, about three years ago. "This is something near and dear to my heart," he said.
The senator and his wife, Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, met several families interested in adoption during required classes, the senator said in an interview. Financial strains forced some families out of the adoption program, he said.
Sen. John Carey, R-Wellston, said the bill complements legislation previously passed by state lawmakers. Senate Bill 20 tripled the state's income-tax credit for adoption from $500 to $1,500 per child. That legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Patricia Clancy, R-Colerain Twp., will take effect Aug. 30. Kearney's bill still must be approved in the Ohio House.
Awhile back on my blog, I reported that the NCFA had a credit card just for this purpose. I am sure that MBNA, a credit card company, gives Gladney and the NCFA a kickback. I do have to wonder though. Does someone lose their house if they default on the loan? Is it the child that must be returned? Does the child upon adulthood have to assume the cost of the loan? Enquiring minds and all. Legislation like this makes adoptees an endentured person in my opinion. Legislation like this puts potentional adoptive family at a serious disadvantage. A Better idea would be to take out the money out of the adoption machine. Laws like this endenture the adoptive family to the adoption industry. We need to seriously get away from this.
3 comments:
The main thing wrong with all this type of legislation is that it doe snot help promote special needs adoption, which need and deserves promotion, but promotes ALL adoptions, including the worst kids of adoptions: unethical, coercive, etc.without making any distinctions.
As usual, the money is available, it would seem, to help the adoptive families, but not to help the poorer biological families.
If a family is too poor to adopt, then a loan seems noble...if a family is too poor to raise their natural child...a loan is seen as a drain on society.
but children and families are the next generation.....hey..they are not a scourge on society..and they are not a luxury..they are a necessity if the human race and society is to continue.
From a foster care adoption perspective, I think what really helps most is housing loans and housing subsidies.
The hardest children to place, the one who end up in the system longest and suffer most from lack of permanency, are large sibling groups. It is terrible if they have to be split up, but how many people can afford to properly house a group of five or six, if it's in an urban area?
To get groups like this matched, and placed in the best possible home -- one that is not on the other side of the country from other biological relatives, or in a completely different culture -- foster and foster-adoptive parents need a lot more support.
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