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The credit applies to all types of adoptions, although they are applied differently.
If you adopt a child from a regular agency or lawyer, or you adopt a child internationally, or you adopt a non-special needs child who is in the custody of the state, then you need to add up the expenses you had, and file for the credit.
Those types are all similar - here's where state vs private gets different:
If you adopt a "special needs" child who is in the custody of a state in the USA, you do NOT need to add up anything, you can file for the total credit regardless of your expenses.
Now, it is a tax credit. If the IRS does not have any money that it took from anything of yours - if it never skimmed your paycheck, and you never have to pay on April 15, then the tax credit won't help. It only helps people who pay taxes. If after all the forms are normally filed the IRS has some money that it took from you, the adoption tax credit may be able to get you some or all of that money back. If the IRS has no money taken from you, then the adoption tax credit will not get you any money at all.
Hope that helps straighten it out for you!
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