ADOPTION FACTS AT A GLANCE

Adoption in the U.S.

• Adoption practices in the U.S. have evolved significantly over the last century.
• In the early 1900s, adoption was mostly informal and between extended family members. World War II’s end saw adoption agencies’ rise and formalized legal processes begin.
• From the 1800s onward, generations of indigenous children were forcibly removed from their communities and put in boarding schools, foster systems, or non-native adoptive families. The 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) established minimum standards for child custody that prioritize keeping families, communities, and cultural connections intact (NICWA 2025).
• The Baby Boom, sometimes referred to as the “Baby Scoop Era” also included more pregnancies among single people, many of whom were institutionalized and forced to surrender their children for adoption (Fessler 2006). Adoptions were largely limited to white children, while Black children more often ended up in foster care.
• With abortion legalization under Roe v. Wade, there was increasing availability of contraception, and decreasing stigma against single parenthood, leading to a decline in adoptions. As domestic adoption decreased, people turned to international adoption.

The Adoption Process

• In adoption, a birth parent places the child in the care of another person or family through a permanent, legal agreement.
• The birth parent selects the type of adoption (open vs. closed) and may influence who will facilitate the process (agency, attorney, facilitator).
• Prospective adoptive parents undergo an evaluative home study, including interviews, home visits, health evaluation, income evaluation, and references (NAIC 2024).
• The birth parent may be given a limited period of time during which they may change their mind. After that, courts rarely reverse adoptions.
• While the vast majority of abortions during the 1900s were closed as a result of stigma and coercion, now 95% of all U.S. domestic adoptions are open (Adoption Network 2023).

Birth Parents

• In contrast to seeing adoption as the alternative to abortion, more often, adoption is usually considered by birth parents who previously wanted a child but now find it no longer feasible (Sisson 2024).
• The majority of people choosing adoption have already given birth and are parenting. The vast majority cite economic constraints as the reason for relinquishing children (Sisson 2022).

Adoptees

• Of U.S. infant adoptions, 59% occur through the child welfare system, 26% are international adoptions, and 15% involve U.S.-born infants placed by an adoption agency (Arons 2010).
• No data suggest domestic adoptions have increased since Dobbs.
• While the majority of adoptees show a healthy adjustment, adopted people have higher rates of depression, attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and suicide attempts. Even those with effective resiliency and support are at elevated risk (Keyes 2013, Askeland 2017, de Maat 2018).

International Adoption

• The Hague Convention on Protection of Children was introduced in 1993 as an international treaty providing safeguards to protect the best interests of children, birth parents, and adoptive parents involved in intercountry adoptions.
• Rates of intercountry adoptions decreased significantly in the last two decades, and participating countries continue to change. Recent instances of international adoptees being harmed have highlighted weaknesses of the international adoption process and its players.
• International adoptees and trans-racial adoptees may struggle with a sense of identity (Feigelman 2000, White 2022)

While adoption can be a meaningful, loving way to grow a family, RJ principles remind us that the burden should remain on governments and society to provide necessary support to poor families so that no one is forced to place a wanted child for adoption. The right to parent is as important as the right not to parent.