NEWS

• USCIS FILING FEES INCREASING ON NOVEMBER 23, 2010

  This will include an increase in the N-600/N-600K Application for Certificate of Citizenship (COC) to $550 (for a child by adoption) and $600 (for a biological child). It is important to get your child a COC so that he or she has a document that will prove U.S. citizenship. There is no better time than now, before the increase, to do so.

  The I-600/I-800 Orphan and Hague Petition fees are also increasing to $720.

  For more information go to http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-13991.pdf

• FEDERAL ADOPTION TAX CREDIT INCREASED TO $13,170 FOR TAX YEAR 2010.

  Don't forget to consider the federal adoption tax credit when making your adoption plans and/or doing your income tax returns. Several updates to the adoption tax credit were signed into law as part of the health care reform bill, including the adoption tax credit, which is now $13,170 for tax year 2010. The credit this year has also been made refundable. Some recent guidance from the IRS is at: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=228301,00.html

EVENTS

• On October 19, 2011, C.J. Lyford was a speaker at the Montgomery County Bar Association on the topic “Practical Aspects of Immigration: Changes to International Adoption as a result of the Hague Adoption Convention”.



• On July 22, 2011, C.J. Lyford presented “Potential Minefields as a Result of the Hague Adoption Convention” at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute Conference in Philadelphia at a seminar “Immigration Law for the General Practitioner.”



• C.J. Lyford and Sondra Miller-Wein co-chaired the 14th Annual Celebrate American Creative Writing Contest for 5th grade students re the topic "Why I am glad that American is a Nation of Immigrants" at http://www.communityeducationcenter.org/community/essay-contest. The winner for the Philadelphia chapter was Zoe K. of Seven Generations Charter School in Emmaus, PA.
  Here is her entry:
  
  

  I AM IMMIGRATION

  I am how we live in one country, then another
  I am the reason a lot of us are here
  I am a way to escape torture or death
  I am an escape route if war is where you live
  I am immigration
  

  I am the way our country survives
  I am the path to freedom
  I am the way to find your next lover
  I am what gives people hope for a better life
  I am immigration
  

  I am a passage to a better job
  I am a pathway for families to be established
  I am why we were born
  I am why America is America
  I am immigration
  



• On December 2, 2010, 9 pm EST, C.J. Lyford spoke about Changes in International Adoption at a RESOLVE. TeleSeminar.



• On November 7, 2010, C.J. participated in RESOLVE's "2010 Ask the Expert: A Family Building Expo," at 1225 State Road in Princeton, New Jersey, from 9:30 am until 11:30 am. More information can be found on the RESOLVE website http://www.resolve.org.



• On October 15 and 16, 2010, FRUA (Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption), in partnership with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's International Adoption Health Program, held its 7th Annual Education Conference. This conference focused on the educational and developmental issues facing international adoptees. More information is available on http://www.frua.org/resources/conference-info.



• On October 30, 2009, C.J. Lyford was a presenter at the Fall 2009 Philadelphia Regional Immigration Conference held by the Chester County Bar Association in West Chester, Pennsylvania. C.J. spoke on the topic, "Changes in International Adoption."



• C.J. Lyford and Sondra Miller-Wein were appointed Co-Chairpersons for the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) for the 13th Annual Celebrate American Creative Writing Contest for 5th grade students re the topic "Why I am glad that American is a Nation of Immigrants.” The contest is sponsored by the American Immigration Council and AILA. More information can be found on http://www.communityeducationcenter.org/community/essay-contest.