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Adoption Facts

INTER-COUNTRY ADOPTION

  • Over the past decade, 179,719 children from around the world were welcomed into families in the U.S. through inter-country adoption.
  • Top 5 Sending countries in 2010 were: China, Ethiopia, Russia, South Korea and Ukraine.
  • Inter-country Adoption has decreased 59% from its high in 2004 due primarily to restrictions by sending countries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DOMESTIC ADOPTION

  • In 2010, 52,891 American children were adopted domestically with public agency involvement.  (Data on private adoptions is not yet available for 2010.)
  • In 2007, there were 133,737 total domestic adoptions.  Of these:
      • 57,248 were adoptions by relatives, and 76,489 were by non-relatives.
      • 42,978 were handled by public agencies and 20,254 by private agencies.
      • 13,257 were handled by private individuals, usually attorneys.
      • Infants comprised almost one-fourth (18,078) of unrelated domestic adoptions
      • Children with special needs comprised two-fifths (32,402) of unrelated domestic adoptions.
  • The 76,489 unrelated domestic adoptions in 2007 represented the highest number recorded in recent decades—compared to 50,720 in 1982 and 55,706 in 1992.

One of the primary barriers to adoption is fear.
How will adopted kids turn out?  How would adoption affect our family?

These are vital questions to grapple with.  Any family considering adoption should know that most every non-infant child in need of adoption has faced great difficulty.  This is especially true for children who’ve spent significant time living in an institution.  Overcoming wrongs a child has experienced in the past may take great effort and sacrifice from adoptive parents.

But ultimately, studies show definitively that adopted children consistently thrive in loving homes.  There may be great challenges, but most often—as with all parenting—even greater joys.  Adopted children and their futures vary as much as biological children do.  Most of the time, their outcomes are just about the same as other children, sometimes even better:

      • An expansive 1994 studyby the Search Institute comparing adopted teens to other teens found that:
        • Adopted teens scored higher on indicators of well-being such as school performance, friendships, volunteerism, self-esteem and optimism.
        • Adopted teens scored lower on indicators of high-risk behavior such as depression, alcohol use, vandalism, and police trouble.
        • Compared to their non-adopted siblings, adopted teens showed no significant difference in their perception of similarities between themselves and adoptive parents in terms of interests.
        • Children adopted transracially showed no differences in terms of identity formation and self-esteem, attachment to parents, or psychological health.
      • Many other studies have reached similar findings.  These include:
        • Adopted children are well-integrated into their families and schools and show good psychological outcomes.  There are few differences between children who have been adopted and their non-adopted peers (Palacios and Sanchez-Sandoval, 2005)
        • Long-term outcomes are positive for adopted children, and generally show little or no difference compared to non-adopted children (Benson, 2004).
        • The vast majority of adopted children show behavior patterns and emotional and academic adjustment very similar to those of non-adopted children (Palacios and Sanchez-Sandoval, 2005, Vrand and Brinich, 1999, Brodzinsky, 1987).
        • Numerous studies indicate that adoptive parents report high levels of satisfaction with their adoption (Barth and Brooks, 2000).
        • People who were adopted fare significantly better than those children who remain in negligent, abusive birth families, or in foster care or institutions (Maughan et al., 1998, Brodzinsky et al., 1998).
        • If adopted individuals did experience adoption-related struggles, most of these struggles significantly diminished or disappeared by young adulthood (Feigelman, 1997).
        • People who were adopted reported more confidence in their judgment than non-adopted persons, viewed others more positively, and saw their parents as significantly more nurturing, comforting, and protectively concerned and helpful (Marquis and Detweiler, 1985).

With thanks to the National Council for Adoption’s Consider the Possibilities:  Adoption Liaison Workbook and Adoption Factbook V (2011) for excellent lists of adoption research.