Red tape...........& hurry up & wait. It's the name of the "game". Just a job to all of them. So sorry you're having to go through so much. I know it's been a very long road for you. Since your kids have been in the system, you should be able to get the adoption tax credit. I understand they are trying to push the legislatures to extend the big tax credit refund - like $13,000 per child. Have you asked about this? It would be a nice nest egg for college for them - or for things you need to do to your house, or whatever you need. Raising kids is expensive!!!

WOW!! what a pain... we are getting ready to file ourselves and I am taking notes from you guys and praying to will go smoother with all the notes I have.. LOL... I know funny right?? Good luck.

Call your local police department which is most likely where you would go for fingerprinting. They may have experience with this and be able to help you expedite. You may have been talking to a clerk who has no power to do anything but make life miserable for you. You also might call her back and ask if she has heard of the ability to fax the form (lol). You gotta wonder if these people have to pass a stupidity test to get their jobs1

Hi Gma, yes our accountant told us of this . He said if legislature does get rid of the credit, we will file all of the lawyer fees we paid in 2011 and 2012 to get the kids back as part of the adoption. It won't be as much of a nest egg, but it'll be something to look forward to.
This tax credit is great for us grandparents who are starting over again, but also I think it's just for U.S. adoptions which is great for our U.S. kids that get pushed aside for foreign country adoption which is much easier and a lot less RED tape. We need an incentive to put up with the RED tape!

Here in California, the finger prints (they call it Live Scan) only took a couple of days.

The key for us was that the adoption SW did her paperwork for the Live Scan department.

It's wierd that they take that long...however; your adoption process seemed to be shorter then ours. When did the parental rights removed? Ours was dec 13 then it was about a month after that we signed AAP and then parents still had 30 more days to contest. Then, we used the non-profit lawyers who only took 2 mths & week to schedule the adoption hearing.

Your almost there....

Our non-profit lawyer told me we couldn't file for the 2011 tax even thou our adoption was before April 15th 2012 (I know I was grasping). My thoughts were, they let folks who invest in investments up to April 15th so I thought maybe we could file for 2011 because most of the adoption process was in 2011. They said no for 2011 tax for us. The only people who would benefit the new 2012 adoption tax is people who adopt that need a large tax credit. She explained like this, you owe IRS for the 2012 yr lets say $4,000 the adoption tax credit is $11,000 they would subtract that and you would have $7,000 left in tax credit. Then, the next year you owe $5,000 for the 2013 tax year and subtract with $2,000 left. I think you have a few years to use up all the tax credit on taxes you owe until it is used up. Well, our tax bracket is not high enough (we don't make enough money) to need a tax write off (adoption tax credit). It is only for Wealthy folks...not the precentage of grandparents who adopt that give up their homes, etc to keep their grandchildren. However; I was told it is up to Obama's team to keep the old 2006-2011 tax refund going. Our luck because of all the debt created by the rich they will take from the low income once again!!

We just got our finger printing done. The form says to mail to a local po box. I had to call the agent to see what our fee is. She told me they will take care of it and she will pick it up and send it in when she comes for her visit. I told her we are working against the clock and when would she like to come... Next week of course! hurry up and wait!!!!

Liam, some (politicians, I guess?) are trying to get the 2011 tax credit reinstated. As it stands, what you explained is exactly the way it works for the 2012 tax credit. If the 2011 tax credit is reinstated, it is larger and entails a $13,000 cash refund. So, let's pray the 2011 status is reinstated.

P.S. ~ If the child is adopted after being in the "foster care" system, the credit is automatic; regardless of how much or how little was spent on expenses. I have a girlfriend who adopted 2 kids last year and they had been in the foster care system. The state paid for their adoption fees AND they still got the tax refunds on both. It is a good incentive for people to adopt children out of the foster care system, which was probably the original intent of the tax credit.