To prove your legal right to claim your foster children on your tax return, consider the following:
Foster children fall under the definition of Qualifying Child for the purposes of claiming them on your return. In addition, you need to show the children spent 183 nights or more in your home. There is a "Support Worksheet" in Publication 501 (the link is below) to prove you provided over half the support. In addition to the general rules of citizenship, not claiming their self on a return, and not filing a joint return with someone else, you must be able to answer
"yes" to all of the following questions:
-
Are they related to you? The child can be your son,
daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half brother,
half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, adopted child or an offspring of any
of them.
-
Do they meet the age requirement? Your child must be under
age 19 or, if a full-time student, under age 24. There is no age limit if
your child is permanently and totally disabled.
-
Do they live with you? Your child must live with you for
more than half the year (183 nights).
-
Do you financially support them? Your child may have a job,
but that job cannot provide more than half of her support.
-
Are you the only person claiming them? This requirement
commonly applies to children of divorced parents, where you often must apply the “tie breaker rules." These rules may also help you prove your right to claim your foster children, as these rules establish income, parentage and residency
requirements for claiming a child.
Here is the link to Publication 501.
