How many parents want to adopt

International adoptive parents should be prepared for the same issues. But in general, intercountry adoptions have a stronger chance of leading to a referral of a child who was not abused or neglected. This is obviously a criterion of which adoptive parents are conscious. Seventh, there is a case that children in other countries are in greater need. All orphaned children need parents, and this is their paramount need. But adoptive parents drawn to intercountry adoption reason that children in developing nations face threats that US children do not face.

This is undeniable. Orphaned children in other countries are:. Simply put, children in the US foster care system do not face these risks.

They do face other risks, such as mental health problems, lack of success in their future career, and the life-long feeling of displacement that goes along with having no family!

But when families consider how they can make a difference, they weigh the risks these children are facing, and some see greater urgency in developing countries. The next two reasons parents choose intercountry adoption are juxtaposed to the possibility of adopting children from the US in a private domestic adoption.

In other words, what follows is not in apposition to the choice of foster care, but the choice of adopting a US child who is voluntarily relinquished. In domestic, private adoption, the birthmother voluntarily relinquishes her child. She chooses the family with whom she wants to place her child. She may have any number of criteria.

Some couples fear that factors out of their control will cause them to wait an indefinite period of time to be picked by a birth mother. The next referral of a child who fits the general criteria of the adoptive couple, such as age or medical needs is given to the family who has been waiting the longest. Lastly, parents choose intercountry adoption because it is almost always a closed adoption.

Agencies recommend open adoption as healthy for all parties involved. Single Black women were always very unlikely to place their children for adoption, because many maternity homes excluded Black women. Still, throughout this era, American families adopted thousands of infants and toddlers from foreign countries. Over the years, international adoptions increased, and Americans went on to adopt more than , kids from South Korea, Romania , and elsewhere from to But to many American evangelical Christians, these numbers were still too low to combat what they considered to be a global orphan crisis.

In the late s, Joyce reported, representatives from Bethany Christian Services and other adoption agencies occasionally pressured single women to relinquish their babies, gave them false impressions about the nature of adoption, and threatened them when they changed their mind. In an interview, Joyce stood by her reporting. American Christians went on to adopt tens of thousands of children from other countries.

In recent years, though, international adoption has slowed to a trickle because of changes abroad and within American adoption agencies. During the foreign-adoption boom, most of the children adopted from abroad found happy homes in the U.

Some, however, turned out to not really be orphans , but instead children placed in orphanages temporarily by their impoverished parents. Some of the most popular source countries for adoptable children—including Russia, Guatemala, and Ethiopia—shut down their adoption programs years ago because of corruption scandals or tensions with the U.

China expanded its domestic-adoption program and reversed its one-child policy in , dramatically reducing the number of girls who were relinquished for adoption.

Then, last year, Bethany closed its international-adoption program , instead focusing on its in-country foster-care and adoption programs. In other words, Ethiopians, not Americans, will adopt Ethiopian children. Even Joyce, the Child Catchers author and a critic of the evangelical adoption movement, says the groups have changed.

About four years ago, Joyce appeared on a Christian Alliance for Orphans panel, and even then she noticed more talk of family preservation. The adoption movement had seemingly grappled with the criticism, she told me. Each year, we work with thousands of women who are facing an unplanned pregnancy and offer assistance to these women.

Our large, caring staff is able to assist you seven days a week and provide you with one-on-one counseling about your pregnancy and available options. You should choose an adoption agency where you feel completely comfortable with their services and staff. With American Adoptions, you will work with an Adoption Specialist who is on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Adoption Specialist will be your advocate and will provide support and guidance as you create an adoption plan that is right for you. Each family has their own style of introducing adoption to the child. When you are matched with an adoptive family, you can ask them this question. If you would like your Adoption Specialist to discuss it for you, just let her know. He or she can share your wishes or provide good ideas from other adoptive families.

You will also be able to share what you want your baby to know about you. You can complete a keepsake booklet to share hobbies, stories, photos of you and your family and a letter to your baby. The adoptive family can provide this to your child as he or she grows older.

Be as creative as you like! Some birth mothers have even knitted a special blanket as a gift to their baby or given a similar symbol of their love. The father of your baby can fill out the birth father's keepsake booklet or write a letter too.

You may have other family members who would also like to share photos or a letter to the baby. This is your opportunity to pass on your and your family's love and to share your personality, history and reasons for choosing adoption.

The adoptive family will treasure whatever information you provide and will share it with the baby at an appropriate age. In most adoptive homes, the word adoption is in the child's vocabulary early on, and adoption is celebrated in their lives. While not every woman who chooses adoption is a young mother, many are.

Through adoption, many young women have found an ability to give their babies the best life possible, while finding the opportunity to realize their own dreams, as well. June 17, International Adoptions. Pierce, PhD. Donaldson Adoption Institute. Accessed: September 17, Cross-Cultural Adoption. Washington, D. US Adoption Statistics Adoption is all around us, even if we don't see it.

How many Americans have adopted a child? How common is international adoption? Around 7 million Americans are adopted. Around , children are adopted by American families each year.