New Report Reveals Surprising Facts About Adoption

Author: Madeline Ellis

We probably all know someone who is adopted or has adopted, making it seem like a commonplace occurrence. But in fact, adopting a child has been and remains a relatively rare event in the United States. In 2000, of the 65.6 million children under 18 years of age, only 2.5 percent (1.6 million) were adopted, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The report is based on data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth conducted by NCHS, which analyzed adoption experiences of U.S. adults aged 18 to 44, both ever- and never-married, and the demand for children to adopt.

Surprisingly, among ever-married persons, men were more than 2.5 times as likely as women to have adopted, 3.8 percent compared with 1.4 percent. Overall, 2.3 percent of all men had ever adopted a child, compared with 1.1 percent of women; equating to nearly 1.3 million men and 613,000 women. Although the report does not provide conclusive data as to the reasons why more men adopt than women, it does point out that it may be related to the fact that there are greater opportunities for men to adopt their stepchildren than for women, mainly because of post-divorce living arrangements.

While never-married adults were significantly less likely than those who were currently married to have adopted a child, approximately 100,000 never-married women and 73,000 never-married men had adopted a child. One-fourth (26 percent) of women 40-44 years of age who had never given birth to a child and who had ever used infertility services had adopted a child.

One-third of all women 18-44 had ever considered adopting a child, and of these, about one in seven had actually taken steps to adopt. Women who had taken steps to adopt were more likely to be 30-44 years of age, to be currently married, to have used infertility services, and to be surgically sterile or with impaired fertility. Overall, 1.6 percent of all women and 2.0 percent of ever-married women were currently seeking to adopt a child. Hispanic and non-Hispanic black women were more likely to be currently seeking to adopt, compared with non-Hispanic white women.

Women seeking to adopt preferred certain characteristics, such as a child younger than 2 years old, without a disability, and a single child rather than two or more siblings. They would also prefer a girl rather than a boy. While women would accept children with most non-preferred characteristics, two-third of women said they would not accept a child 13 years of age or older or a child with a severe disability.

Over the past 30 years, the combined impact of societal changes and legislative actions has decreased the number of children placed for adoption. First, more unmarried, pregnant women are choosing to keep and raise their babies. In 2002, only 1 percent of children born in the U.S. in 1996-2002 to women 18-44 years of age were relinquished for adoption within their first month of life. Second, there has been an overall decline in the teen birth rate since 1970. Since teen mothers historically were most likely to give their infants up for adoption, this has had a significant effect on the number of infants available. Finally, two pieces of legislation; The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, legislation requiring reasonable efforts be made to preserve and reunify families, and The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which gives preference to placement of children with relatives who meet state standards of safety, have also limited the number of infants available to nonrelatives for adoption.

Because of the decrease in the domestic supply of infants and children available for adoption, more affluent women and couples have increasingly sought to adopt children from other countries. Celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, Madonna, Meg Ryan and Michelle Pfeiffer have chosen to adopt children from foreign lands. Between 1990 and 2001, the number of children adopted from other countries increased almost threefold from 7,093 to 19,237.

Cost may also be a contributing factor to the low prevalence of adoption among the general population. According to an adoption website, the cost can range from 0-$2,500 for a domestic public agency adoption, $4,000-$30,000+ for domestic private agency adoption, $8,000-$30,000+ for domestic independent adoption and $7,000 to $25,000+ for inter-country private agency or independent adoption.