You have made the decision to adopt…now what?!  Do you choose to work with adoption agency? Do you find an adoption consultant to guide you? Do you work with an adoption attorney and utilize the world around you to help you self-match? Self-matching is the idea that you, as the adoptive parents, are trying to find an expectant mother on your own as opposed to working with adoption agency or consultant.  This can be a much more cost-effective, and personal, route to take on your adoption journey.  If you decide to focus on self-matching during your adoption, make sure you [...]

If you have ever been involved in any part of the adoption process, I don’t need to tell you that adoption is expensive.  Sometimes very, very expensive.  Starting with that initial consultation with an attorney or agency, then their fees for their services, and then birth mom expenses and medical bills, and then court costs and filing fees; and lord help us all if you have a birth father that decides to contest the adoption.  It’s enough to make your head spin and your wallet weep.  And on top of all of that, you have another tiny human to [...]

In 2018, the Louisiana Legislature passed ACT 631, which awards school employees like teachers, social workers, guidance counselors, and psychologists who are prospective adoptive parents, a leave of absence similar to that provided by the Federal Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) and our Louisiana version. Regularly employed women teachers are granted a leave of absence for a reasonable time before and after birth of a child. Now, thanks to Act 631, regularly employed teachers are also granted a leaves of absence of up to 30 days, after placement of a child as part of an adoption. These school employees who are [...]

If you are in the process of adopting a child and are able to claim the child as your dependent or are able to claim a child care credit, you may need an Adoption Tax Identification Number (“ATIN”) until a SSN is issued for your adoptive child. An ATIN is issued by the IRS as a temporary taxpayer identification number for the child in a domestic adoption when the adopting taxpayers do not have and/or are unable to obtain the child's Social Security Number (SSN). 1 According to the IRS, recent tax law changes require that when you list a [...]

Our entire adoption story is such a beautiful blessing. We are so thankful that Gaudin Law Group was part of that blessing. In 2017, we were contacted by our son’s birth mother approximately three months before he was born. As we began to move forward with our “adoption to-do list” we knew how important it was to find a knowledgeable and caring attorney to navigate us through the journey. After speaking to several friends that utilized Gaudin Law Group for their adoption process, we quickly contacted Todd Gaudin. Our experience was surprisingly pleasant (as we all know how stressful [...]

The late great Irish apologist, C.S. Lewis, through MERE CHRISTIANITY,1 sought to convince its readers that his Christian Faith was the most rationale of all spiritual belief systems. He constructed the books’ chapters to contain ideas that progressively build upon each other and that reach a grand conclusion. In the beginning, while building a basic argumentative foundation, he wrote:[P]leasure, money, power, and safety are all, as far as they go, good things. The badness consists in pursuing them by the wrong method, or in the wrong way, or too much . . . [W]ickedness, when you examine it, turns out [...]

Taxpayers who have adopted or tried to adopt a child may qualify for a tax credit. Here are nine important things about the adoption credit: The Credit. The credit is non refundable, which may reduce taxes owed to zero. If the credit exceeds the tax owed, there is no refund of the additional amount. In addition, if an employer helped pay for the adoption through a written qualified adoption assistance program, that amount may reduce any taxes owed. Maximum Benefit. The adoption tax credit for 2018 has been increased to $13,840.1 Credit Carryover. If the credit exceeds the tax owed, [...]

In 2018, our legislature amended several Ch. C. Articles that regulate the payment of money to parents when in connection with an adoption. Before the revision, a mother was allowed to receive financial assistance in the following categories: Reasonable medical expenses; Reasonable counseling and training expenses for adoptive parents; Reasonable court costs, travel costs, and attorney fees; Reasonable mental health counseling services for parents; Reasonable expenses incurred to collect family histories; Reasonable living expenses incurred by a mother. The category in which many adoption professionals believed was being abused was “living expenses.” By way of context, R.S. 14:286. (Sale of [...]