In 2015, U.S. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) said she met an inspiring adoptive family who told her their story of adoption.
The Owens family, whose preschool-aged son had passed away, said they felt a calling to adopt a child with special needs, explained Black, the chairwoman of the House Budget Committee.
“Fast forward a few years and they are the proud parents of five—with four of their children added to their family through the miracle of adoption. Without making the adoption tax credit fully refundable, families like theirs don’t benefit,” Black said at the time.
Black included their story in her efforts to raise awareness about an earlier version of her Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2017, H.R. 2476, which seeks to make the national adoption tax credit fully refundable. And while that earlier version of the bill died when the previous session of congress ended, Black’s passion for the effort persists this year.
“I’ve always been a big proponent of adoption,” Black recently told The Ripon Advance. “There are so many children out there who need a permanent home with a forever family.”
Lingering in the foster care system waiting to be adopted can be so detrimental to children’s and youth’s overall well-being, explained Black, who worked as a registered nurse prior to beginning a political career.
“Helping these children find forever families is something I want to do. As the federal adoption tax credit stands now, it can only be used by people with a federal tax liability. For families without that liability, they can’t write it off—so they’re not getting a return when they adopt a child,” Black said.
Fully refundable adoptions, she said, would help families be able to cover the costs of adoption, which is an expensive process, Black said, thereby encouraging more families to adopt. Or the refund monies could help a family that has adopted a handicapped child pay for needed services, such as speech therapy or physical therapy, she said.
Black said her desire to help children get adopted comes from personal experience.
“I have three children whose father had problems with alcohol. I remarried a wonderful man who adopted all three of my children; they love him as if he was their biological father and he loves them as his own children. And we have six grandchildren now. I encourage a forever family for love and support of adopted children because it’s what every child needs. This has been a part of my life for a very long time,” Black said.
Black, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, is joined by a bipartisan group of 13 cosponsors, six Republicans and seven Democrats, in championing H.R. 2476. The bill was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee, which Black has served on since she was first elected to Congress in 2011.