Adoption Statistics
General Adoption Statistics
- There are millions of children worldwide who are orphans (World Wide Orphan Stats 2020).
- There are more than 118,000 children in public foster care awaiting adoption (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005).
- 6 in 10 Americans have had personal experience with adoption. This means that they, themselves, a family member or a close friend has been adopted, has adopted a child or has placed a child for adoption. (Evan B. Donaldson Institute, 1997)
- It is estimated that about 1 million children in the United States live with adoptive parents. (Stolley, 1993)
- Birthmothers who have on-going contact with their children’s adoptive families report having less grief, regret, guilt and sadness than do those who do not have contact. (Henney, Ayers-Lopex, McRoy & Crotevant, 2007)
- Adoptive parents who had contact with their children’s birth relatives were more satisfied with their contact arrangements than were those who had no contact. (Henney, Ayers-Lopex, McRoy & Crotevant, 2007)
- As reported in the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute March 2012 Openness in Adoption: The benefits of openness for all parties involved have been well established in research, particularly as they relate to adopted children. (Berge, et. al., 2006; Grotevant, el.al., 2009)
Additional Information
Since the following information changes annually and in order to ensure you receive the most accurate statistical information from Adoption & Beyond, the following information is available upon request (adopt@adoption-beyond.org).
- The number of children eligible for adoption and awaiting an adoptive placement referral via Adoption & Beyond, Inc.
- Statistics for the past three calendar years regarding:
- The number of prospective adoptive parents who apply for services each year
- The number of adoptive placements Adoption & Beyond, Inc. has made
- The percentage of those placements that have disrupted or dissolved