Press Room

Contacts: Peggy Hamill, State Director
Matt Sande, Legislative Affairs Director
(262) 796-1111 or info@prolifewisconsin.org

Senate Committee to Hear Adoption Tax Credit Bill
Bill would increase adoptions and save lives, says Pro-Life Wisconsin

The Senate Health Committee will hold a public hearing Thursday at the State Capitol on legislation that creates an individual income tax credit for adoption expenses. When added to the existing federal credit, Senate Bill (SB) 408 could provide prospective adoptive families with up to $15,000 for qualified adoption expenses.

The costs of adoption are often prohibitive for families in Wisconsin and across the nation. The National Adoption Information Clearinghouse (NAIC) reports that adoption expenses can range from zero to $30,000 depending on the method of adoption.

“It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of SB 408 could financially make or break the decision of many families in Wisconsin to adopt a child,” said Matt Sande, Pro-Life Wisconsin’s director of legislative affairs. “Pro-Life Wisconsin enthusiastically supports all efforts to facilitate the life-saving alternative of adoption. SB 408 is another big step in the right direction.”

The bill, authored by State Senator Tom Reynolds (R-West Allis), creates a nonrefundable individual state income tax credit for qualified adoption expenses (up to $5,000) incurred by an individual who claims the federal credit (up to $10,000). Ingrid Schlueter, a program coordinator for Sunshine Adoption, Inc. in Elm Grove, Wis., and founder of the For the Children Adoption Information website, plans to testify along with Sande in support of SB 408. Schlueter and her husband are parents of two adopted children.

“The costs of adoption, both domestic and international, often create a chasm that is unbridgeable between children who need families and families who want them so desperately,” said Schlueter. “Without a doubt, the creation of a state tax-credit would open the door of opportunity for children and families in a new way.”
“Making adoption a viable alternative for families promotes the culture of life,” added Sande. “If a young woman struggling with an unplanned pregnancy knows that adoption is a readily available option for many families, she is ever more likely to spare her baby from abortion. Perhaps she is aware that there are married couples within her own circle of family and friends who are already processed and desperately waiting for a child. Such awareness could greatly encourage her to share the gift of life with someone close to her.”
Pro-Life Wisconsin is encouraging the Senate and Assembly to quickly pass SB 408 before the close of the 2003-04 legislative session.

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