Senate's Adoption Grant Program is a Stunning Success

The Ohio Senate is proud of its mission to support pro-family policies, including helping our children find loving homes through adoption.

That’s why we spearheaded the creation of the Ohio Adoption Grant program and have prioritized it as a resource for Ohio’s newest families. 

This program has immediately proved to be successful beyond our wildest expectations. It is so exceptionally popular that we have run out of funding twice as fast as anticipated.

This is amazing for the families who have utilized it, but now there is not enough left for more Ohioans aspiring to adopt, leaving many prospective parents and children waiting.

That is why the Senate made a critical $38 million investment into the Ohio Adoption Grant program this week – to keep uniting more families.

In Ohio, the adoption journey can cost families anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000. Meanwhile, thousands of Ohio’s children are eligible to be adopted. Unfortunately, this cost can prevent parents and our children from becoming families.

For years, adopting families could take advantage of the Ohio Adoption Tax Credit, which helped them recoup adopted-related expenses up to $10,000. This tax credit was helpful, but it was spread out over a number of years. We wanted to do more to help families.

The Senate created the Ohio Adoption Grant program in House Bill 45 last General Assembly. The program provides grants to prospective parents adopting a child to help them better manage the cost of the process. Grants can total:

•     $10,000 to families adopting a child; 
•     $15,000 to families adopting a child from the foster care system; 
•     And $20,000 to families adopting a child with special needs.

House Bill 45 gave $15 million to this program, and in the next budget (House Bill 33 passed last summer), the legislature made a $30 million additional investment—another $15 million for each fiscal year. This amount was an estimate based off the cost of the old tax credit this new program replaced.

Every dollar we allocated to it has already been given to Ohio families.

It’s obvious the grants are giving adoptive families a greater benefit than the tax credit did, and we hope its popularity also means more families are opening their hearts to adoption. This program’s success is a major win for Ohio families and kids. But now many families who wish to utilize this life-changing grant have no funds available to them.

We decided to fix that.

The Senate gave an additional $38 million to the Ohio Adoption Grant program through House Bill 250. These dollars will help prospective parents waiting in the wings afford the cost of adopting their child(ren). 

House Bill 250 now goes to the Ohio House. We hope they approve this funding so more of Ohio’s children can find their forever families. 

Considering adoption? Learn more about the Ohio Adoption Grant program and the adoption process on the Ohio Job and Family Services website.