ADOPTION AID BILL ADVANCES : HOUSE OKS PLAN TO OFFER TAX CREDIT.

Byline: Eric Schmitt The New York Times

The House on Friday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would make it easier and more affordable to adopt a child in this country.

The bill, passed 393-15, includes a tax credit of up to $5,000 to all but the richest families who adopt children. This is an element of the Republican Contract With America. The bill also makes it easier for couples to adopt children who have different racial or ethnic backgrounds. Current law gives preference to same-race placements.

After an emotional debate, lawmakers kept a provision that limits the authority of American-Indian tribal courts in custody cases involving children with only traces of American-Indian ancestry.

President Clinton has endorsed the tax credit and interracial adoption provisions but has expressed concern that the American-Indian provision might violate tribal sovereignty. Clinton had twice before vetoed the adoption tax credit because it was included in welfare and budget measures he opposed.

``We have now begun to break down the bureaucratic barriers that limit adoptions in order to help build a system where no child is denied access to a loving home,'' said Rep. Susan Molinari, R-N.Y., who is the bill's main sponsor.

The House bill now advances to the Senate, where several bills have been introduced that provide for tax credits and interracial adoptions. Some formulation is expected to pass the Senate, and negotiators will work out any differences in a conference committee later this summer.

The broad bipartisan support for the bill reflects concern for the welfare of the 50,000 children adopted in this country annually and the 450,000 children living in foster-care homes. But it also shows how Democrats and Republicans are trying to outflank each other on popular social issues.

As the House was approving the bill, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton invited five mothers and their adopted children to a White House ceremony. ``We should make it possible for thousands more children to be adopted by Mother's Day next year,'' she said.

The bill would allow families who earn less than $75,000 a year to claim the full one-time $5,000 tax credit for each child to help defray the costs of adoption proceedings. The value of the tax credit would be reduced for families with incomes between $75,000 and $115,000. Families earning more than $115,000 would not qualify for the credit.

The National Council for Adoption has estimated the cost of adopting an American child to be $20,000, while the cost of adopting a child from a foreign country can reach as high as $36,000.

The House Ways and Means Committee estimates that the bill will cost the government $1.7 billion in lost revenue over seven years. Sponsors of the bill have suggested that the revenue could be made up by enforcing taxes owed by foreign trusts and repealing tax credits for businesses that pay for energy conservation measures.

The Child Welfare League of America criticized the tax credits Friday, saying the money could be better spent on financial incentives for adopting children who are hard to place because of age or physical problems that make them costly to care for.

The issue of interracial adoptions has raised concerns with African-American leaders and the National Association of Black Social Workers. The Republican bill originally would have forbidden consideration of race in adoptions. But at the urging of Rep. Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., who is African-American, the bill was amended to allow race to be considered if more than one qualified family sought a child.

The bill approved Friday would impose fines on states that delayed interracial adoptions to try to find a same-race placement.

In a letter to Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, earlier this week, Clinton hailed this approach as consistent with his ``longstanding goal to end the historical bias against interracial adoptions.''

But Republicans challenged Clinton's record on the issue Friday by citing a 1987 law that Clinton enacted while he was governor of Arkansas that required state courts to give preference to potential adoptive families with the same racial or ethnic background as the child.

Lawmakers reserved their most passionate arguments for the 30-minute debate over the American-Indian provisions. Critics contend that tribal courts are using the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which was intended to protect American-Indian children and culture, to interfere in adoptions when American-Indian parents give up children.

Critics say some tribes are trying to reclaim children, some of whom have only distant American-Indian ancestry, from their adoptive parents. ``We're trying to prevent baby-snatching and children-snatching,'' said Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y.

The bill would remove child-custody proceedings from tribal courts if the cases involve children whose parents do not maintain ``significant social, cultural or political affiliation with the tribe.''

The bill does not define what that means.

American-Indian leaders and their House supporters said this would undermine the self-governance of the nation's 554 tribes. ``Total strangers would have preference over members of the Indian child's extended family,'' said Rep. Doug Bereuter, R-Neb.

At one point, the debate on the House floor nearly boiled over. Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., rose to criticize an amendment by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, to remove the American-Indian provision from the bill and let existing law stand.

``If a baby has even the remotest link to an Indian tribe, the tribe can intervene,'' Smith said of current law. ``The mother has no control over where the baby is placed.''

After Smith finished his remarks, Young walked up to Smith, angrily jabbed his finger in his opponent's face, said something and then rapped the lectern. His voice rising after several seconds, Young wheeled suddenly and stalked back to his seat. His amendment lost 212-195.