It is difficult to find good statistics on adoption. In 2009, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released results from The National Survey of Adoptive Parents (NSAP), the first large, nationally representative survey of adoptive families across adoption types. The researchers completed 2,089 interviews between April 2007 and July 2008. Below are some interesting highlights for those interested in domestic adoption:
- Changes in the adoption landscape may affect domestic adoption. International adoptions to the United States have been declining since 2004 and the relinquishment of infants born to never-married women has become rarer, declining from 8.7 percent prior to 1973 to 1 percent throughout the 1990s.
- Approximately 17% of children who were adopted by a non-relative through private domestic adoption, once lived with their birth family.
- With regards to race and Hispanic origin, 50% of children adopted through private adoption were non-Hispanic white and 21% were adopted transracially.
- When it comes to health, a greater percentage of children adopted through private adoption (21%) experience moderate or severe health problems as compared to children adopted internationally (14%).
- Adoption satisfaction was measured by the percentage of adoptive children whose parents would make the same decision to adopt again. For private adoptions, 93% of adopted children’s parents would definitely adopt again. For international adoptions, the percentage dropped to 87% and for foster care it dropped to 81%.
- Satisfaction with adoption professionals is high. Nearly nine out of ten adopted children have a parent who is satisfied with their adoption attorney or agency and more than nine out of ten believe that the agency disclosed all important information prior to the adoption.
- Adoption openness data portrays a mixed bag. Almost all adopted children ages 5 and older (97 percent) know they were adopted, but among children adopted by non-relatives, approximately one-third have a pre-adoption agreement regarding openness and roughly one-third have had post-adoption contact with birth family members.
