Numbers and Trends in Child Adoptions

The number of adoptions of children in the U.S. is estimated at 120,000 annually, incorporating all types of adoption (international and domestic, public, private, and stepparent). While actual numbers of children adopted through international adoption and adoptions from the foster care system are available, the number of children adopted privately (agency, independent, stepparent) are only estimates since states are not required to report those numbers. However, a rough estimate can be drawn from the following:

Fiscal year 2002

The number of estimated intercountry adoptions was 20,099 (U.S. Department of State)
• The number of children adopted from the foster care system was 52,534 (Children's Bureau)

Subtracting the sum of the above (72,633), the estimated number of domestic private child adoptions was 57,367. Anecdotal evidence is that half of all private adoptions are stepparent adoptions (28,683), leaving the remaining 28,684 as an estimate of the number of non-related private child adoptions.

Trends in Child Adoptions

Over the past 50 years (1955-2005), we have seen major shifts in the pattern of child adoptions. International adoption was virtually unknown until the mid-1950s, and the 1960s and 70s saw an enormous jump in the number of private infant adoptions as the baby boomer generation reached child-bearing years. The number of child adoptions by unrelated adoptive parents reached its peak in 1970, with 89,200, and has declined steadily since then (last reported number is 47,700 in 1975). Changes in societal views on and laws regarding single parenting, abortion, and birth control have led to a decline in the number of infants being placed for adoption in the U.S., and that has resulted in hopeful adoptive parents turning to international adoption and adoptions of children from the foster care system.