West Virginia Legislation to Establish Trust Funds

by Kristina Chew · 2009-07-03 14:20:00 UTC
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Yesterday in West Virginia, Governor Joe Manchin signed into law new legislation that is designed to encourage the creation of trust funds for the future support of children on the autism spectrum. As reported in Metro News, under the new legislation, families with autistic children will be given a tax credit of up to $2,000 a year for contributions made to trust funds which are to be used when the children become adults; this new legislation is the "first of its kind in the country." Says Barbara Becker-Cottrill, Executive Director of the Autism Training Center which is located at Marshall University in Huntington:

"When you have a child with autism, you've got, really, constant worry about what's going to happen to your child when they become an adult......It's 24/7 concern and, then, the true worry is what will happen to them if you're not there to care for them and love them?"
....
"This bill will provide, not just the tax credit for families in the here and now, but I really think it's going to give our families a sense of security, a sense that the future is a little brighter for their child when they become adults."

That's the kind of forward-thinking legislation one hopes to see more of, for the times when children become adults, when everything isn't shiny anymore.

Kristina Chew
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