Did you know?

• Michigan is one of five states serving almost half the national foster care population. In the years 1983 to 1993, the number of children in foster care in Michigan increased 67%.
• A 4 year follow up study of youth who had aged out of foster care revealed: Only half had completed high school, just less than half were currently employed, only about 40% had held a job for at least a year, 60% of females had given birth, one quarter had been homeless for at least one night, and fewer than 1 in 5 were completely self supporting.
• Domestic special needs adoptions (i.e. from the U.S. Foster Care System) carry virtually no expense. Many times subsidies are available for foster parents/adoptive parents of waiting children in this category.  Adoption subsidy information for Michigan can be found here.
• The federal adoption tax credit increased to $10,390 per child in 2004 for qualifying adoption expenses.  Beginning with the 2003 tax year, many domestic special needs adoptions qualify for the tax credit even when there are not qualifying expenses.  See IRS Publication 968 for more information.