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Originally Posted By Karen Fuste'

I am an adoptive mother who brought my son home on August 6, 1999. Your help is desperately needed at this time in order to have an extremely important Bill passed. This is called the Hope for Children Act - HR531. It would provide for a $10,000 tax credit for adoptive families. Since the letters started, support in congress has increased to over 220!!! Congressman Bliley and Senator Craig are the people who is sponsoring this Bill. I have been in touch with their offices and they have requested that letters and pictures of our adoptive children be sent to our representatives to express how much HR531 would mean to the parents and children involved. Currently they are awaiting a tax report that the IRS that was mandated by law to be provided by January 1, 2000. To date, this still has not been received. I am encouraging you to also write a letter to the secretary of the Department Of The Treasury to ask why this has not been forwarded to the Ways and Means Committee. The bill can not be brought to the floor for a vote until the results of this report are provided. They need to answer as to why they have not complied with the law. If you would like to find out more about this Bill, you can visit the website www.house.gov/bliley.

I am able to find out what representatives are cosponsoring the Hope For Children Act. If you send me an email with the name of your congressperson and senator, I would be more than happy to see if your representative is currently cosponsoring the Hope for Children Act. In either case, letters and pictures of our children need to be sent in great volume. We need to put the pressure on to ensure that this comes to the floor for a vote this year. The more letters that are sent, the more likely the bill will be voted on.

It is imperative that this is done quickly. Currently for every $1 that is available for tax cuts, there is $5 in Bills being presented as to how this money will be allocated. The more letters that are written, the more pressure that they will feel to vote on the Hope For Children Act soon. It is time to get in touch with anyone that you know who has been touched by adoption and ask them to send letters as well. I have enclosed some important contact information. Your help in this matter would be greatly appreciated by myself and the many future adoptive families that this could impact!!!




Contacting the Department of the Treasury
Lawrence Summers
Secretary of the Treasury
Main Treasury Building, Room 3333
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20220


Contacting Your Senators
www.senate.gov

Contacting Your Congressperson
www.congress.org

Additional Information of the Hope For Children Act
www.house.gov/bliley


Sincerely,

Karen D. Fuste’
AdoptionAid@cs.com