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DOMESTIC ADOPTIONS MAKING A COMEBACK |
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Is it true it is almost impossible to adopt a USA-born infant, especially a Caucasian infant, and this is why foreign adoptions are so popular? |
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But there has been a drop in domestic adoptions, has there not? |
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Does it not take an incredibly long time to adopt a domestic child through an agency? |
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Isn’t the cost of a domestic adoption prohibitive? |
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What has been the recent ethnicity of the baby in adoptions in the US? |
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What has been the major change in adoptions over the past 30 years? |
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Do the above figures also apply to private, non agency adoptions? |
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| Q: |
Is it true it is almost impossible to adopt a USA-born infant, especially a Caucasian infant, and this is why foreign adoptions are so popular? |
| A: |
No. The fact is in the recent past there have been more than 20,000 American families successfully adopting newborn babies per year.* |
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| Q: |
But there has been a drop in domestic adoptions, has there not? |
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Yes. The drop is due to the ready availability of contraception, the social acceptance of being a single unmarried mother, and the availability of welfare funds for unwed mothers.
There has been a drop in newborn American adoptions since the 1970's. In the 1970's the percentage of single mothers placing children for adoption was 9%. In 2002 it was 1.4%.* |
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| Q: |
Does it not take an incredibly long time to adopt a domestic child through an agency? |
| A: |
No, most families can successfully adopt within two years of beginning the process.* |
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| Q: |
Isn’t the cost of a domestic adoption prohibitive? |
| A: |
Not usually. Usually the cost of a domestic adoption is significantly less than a foreign adoption. The cost of a domestic adoption varies widely, from as little as about $5,000 to more than $30,000. The median cost of a domestic adoption is under $20,000.* |
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| Q: |
What has been the recent ethnicity of the baby in adoptions in the US? |
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According to the National Council for Adoption:
- Caucasian 50%
- African-American 16%
- Asian/Bi/Other 28%
- Latino 6%
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| Q: |
What has been the major change in adoptions over the past 30 years? |
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The right of the mother (and sometimes of both parents) to choose the baby’s adoptive parents. In the traditional agency adoption the mother “surrendered” her baby to the agency and she was thereafter totally out of the picture, with the agency, exclusively, selecting the adoptive parents. Birth mothers, however, discovered they are in a strong negotiating position so the birth mother may, if she chooses, participate in the selection process. |
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| Q: |
Do the above figures also apply to private, non agency adoptions? |
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Yes. For the most part. The main distinction is that in an agency adoption the agency locates the pregnant woman, but in a private adoption it is the intended parents, or their lawyer, who seek and contact the pregnant woman.
The costs are usually less in a non-agency private adoption because there is no agency fee. There are lawyer fees, however, in both an agency adoption and a private adoption. |
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*Facts taken from “Perception & Reality the Untold Story of Domestic Adoption” in June 2007 Adoptive Families. |
