Adoption Statistics

With approximately 120,000 adoptions taking place each year in the United States (out of over 5,000,000 US births), most people -roughly 6 out of 10- have been affected in a personal way by adoption. People personally affected by adoption include adoptees, birthparents, birth families, adoptive parents, adoptive families and close friends. Most people know someone who has adopted a child or who has been adopted. Close to one million children live with adopted parents in the US and at least 3% of all American families include a baby or child who has joined their family through adoption.

The total number of formal adoptions in the US in 1944 was approximately 50,000, although data on private adoptions is harder to find. That number increased steadily to approximately 175,000 in 1970 but declined to 142,000 in 1982 and then again to 118,000 in 1987. In 1990, there was approximately 119,000 adoptions and in 1992 the number increased to 127,000. In 1992, close to half of all adoptions were by stepparents or relatives, over 15% were from foster care and 5% were from foreign countries. The main reason for the decline during the 1980s was because the number of children adopted by relatives decreased substantially. Estimates indicate that in 1992, over 6,500 foreign-born orphans were adopted by Americans and in 1996 there were close to 11,000. In 2005, there were over 22,000 visas issued to orphans entering the US. The largest number of children from foreign countries being adopted by Americans originate from China, Russia, Taiwan, South Korea, Guatemala and the Ukraine. At the present time, over 9% of all adoptions in the US are international.

The number of unmarried teen moms placing their babies for adoption has decreased significantly over the past few decades. A survey showed that less than 1% of pregnant teen moms chose adoption in 1995. Between 1982 and 1988, only a little more than 2% of all unmarried mothers (not just teens) placed their babies for adoption, compared to almost 9% between 1952 and 1972. Between 1952 and 1972, the average was about 9%, although a whopping 19% of all unmarried white women/teens placed their babies for adoption. The statistics show that more unmarried Caucasian women placed their babies for adoption than unmarried women of African-American descent. Between 1982 and 1988, a little more than 3% of adoption placements were by unmarried Caucasian mothers, while approximately 1% of placements were by unmarried African-American women/teens.