Prof. Linda J Seligmann
Department of Sociology and Anthropolgy
Transnational Adoption and Changing Faces of American Families
Relevant Facts
-
The estimated total number of adoptions in the United States in 2002 was 151,332. Of that total, the proportion of domestic adoptions has declined while transnational adoptions have been on the rise.
-
Over the last decade alone, adoptions across national boundaries have tripled from 5 to 15% of all adoptions.
-
Between 1989 and 2007, U.S. parents have adopted over a quarter of a million children from other countries (265,091). Of these adoptions, 64% were girls; 36% boys.
-
China and Russia have been among the top two countries from which Americans are adopting children since 1994. Between 1992 and 2008, 72,347 children have come from China and 56,691 from Russia.
-
Approximately 18,957 African American children were formally adopted in the United States through public agencies in 2002. An estimated 1,000-2,000 African American children are adopted transracially each year. Even at the peak of in-country transracial adoptions in 1971, they constituted between 2 to 3 percent of all adoptions. There are no accurate statistics with respect to private adoptions
- There are 5 million adoptees in the U.S. and approximately 2.5 percent of all children under the age of 18 have been adopted. In 2002, over 64% of people in the U.S. reported that a family member or close friend had been adopted, had adopted, or had placed a child for adoption.
