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It’s time to extend adoption expense reimbursement to reservists

Members of the National Guard and reserves have proudly and successfully undertaken missions and roles well beyond their traditional historic role as a strategic reserve. Even the term “weekend warrior” isn’t used much any more, as reservists frequently mobilize for deployments and serve side by side with our active-duty counterparts.

As the service demands have expanded, so have the benefits. Gone are the days when active-duty soldiers had unlimited access to the commissary while reservists carried a pink commissary card with their military IDs to track their limited commissary access. Reservists now can earn and use nearly every benefit active-duty service members use. Reservists access the benefits of Tricare medical insurance, VA home loan guarantees, Space-A air travel, commissary shopping, military pensions and GI Bill tuition benefits. Eligibility requirements for many of these benefits have been expanded to reflect the role of reservists in the total force and the need to retain all troops — active and reserve.

But one modest, yet significant, benefit remains out of reach for many reservists: adoption expense reimbursement. The military offers to reimburse troops up to $2,000 for qualifying adoption expenses as long as the individual is on continuous active duty for 180 days and the adoption is finalized before leaving active duty.

At first glance, mobilized reservists would have a chance to leverage the adoption expense reimbursement during a mobilization lasting six months or longer. In practice, the 180-day requirement makes it nearly impossible to use.

Agency or independent adoptions usually take at least six months from the date of the child’s placement until the state court finalizes the adoption. In addition, the process of locating a child — whether using an agency or as an independent adoption — can take several months or even longer.

Much of the adoption process is impractical for a mobilized reservist deploying overseas or even at a location other than their home state. It’s challenging or even impossible to work on the home study, locate a child or finalize an adoption in the state courts when a person is overseas or otherwise deployed away from their home of record.

This creates a Catch-22 for reservists. On one side, eligibility can only be obtained through continuous active duty for 180 days. On the flip side, one cannot make progress with an adoption while deployed. Even if some progress were possible, it would be a mad scramble to finalize the adoption before release from active duty.

A fair alternative would be for the military to award lifetime eligibility for the adoption benefit for all troops, active duty or reserve, after every 180 days of continuous active duty. This would enable all troops to access the benefit without trying to juggle a deployment and the adoption process simultaneously.

It also would serve to encourage and support the efforts of military families to adopt children.

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The writer serves in an information operations unit. He and his wife adopted their son and hope to adopt another child soon. He can be reached at mitch@mytroops.com. The opinions expressed are the author’s and do not reflect the policies of his unit or the Army.

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