STATISTICS OF ADOPTION - 2005

 

Contents

 

PREFACE

How Many Adoptees?

History of Adoption Data Collection

 

ABORTION (as it relates to Adoption)

By Mothers Who Previously Relinquished

Numbers of

 

ADOPTEES

Adoptees in Psychiatric Facilities,

     -Drug Rehabilitation/Substance Abuse Treatment,

     -Juvenile Detention, Prisons; Firesetters

Adoptees Who Kill,

 

ADOPTERS

Who adopts?

Ratio of Couples Competing for Children

 

ADOPTION

(see also Intercountry Adoption)

Number of U.S. Domestic Adoptions

Average cost of private adoption in U.S; Adoption Subsidies

Total Number of Americans Affected

"Immediate Family" Definition

Total Adoptions Estimated in North America

Total Estimated Number of Adoption Topic Web-Sites

Percentages of Failed Adoptions, Children Returned

Black Market Adoptions

Adoption Agencies

 

ADOPTION SEARCH & SUPPORT

Disclosure Laws, State Reunion Registries, Registrants, Penalties

Percentage Favoring Open Records

Percentages for Adoptees/Birthparents Who Search

Percentage Who Refused Contact When Found

Costs of Searching

Search-Support Survey

 

FAMILY PRESERVATION

Provision & Non-Provision of Services

 

FOSTER CHILDREN, FOSTER CARE SYSTEM, ORPHANAGES

Numbers In Care

Percentage Adopted or Returned to Parents

Costs of foster or institutional care versus in-home care

 

INFERTILITY, DONOR OFFSPRING/PARENTS

Infertile Killers

 

INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION, RACE, HERITAGE

Ethnicity of Adoptees & General Population

Number of Intercountry Adoptions by Countries (in 2002 and prior years)

Intercountry Adoptees' Outcomes

Australia's Adoptions Being Phased Out

England & Wales Adoptions

Canadian Adoptees' Citizenship

 

MEDICAL INJURY TO ADOPTEES

Death By Adoption

 

PARENTS, SEX, PREGNANCY, BIRTHS, MARRIAGE

 

RAPE & INCEST

 

STATS OF THE FUTURE

Half the U.S. Population Will Have Bogus Ancestry in 4 Generations.

 

 

=======================================================

 

"140-million Americans, or half the U.S. population,

       has an adoption in their immediate family."

        -Americans For Open Records (AmFOR)

 

Preface

How Many Adoptees?

 

The 2000 Census tells us there are 281,421,906 Americans; it was the first Census to count "adopted children in the household."  However, until mid-2003, the Census withheld that data for 3 years.  It was then finally estimated, for 1 out of every 6 households counted, that :

 

1.6-million "adopted children" are under age 18, or "born since the 1980s";

1.4-million were domestic adoptions;

200,000 (13%) of the adopted children were foreign-born;

     47,555 - from Korea

     21,053 - from China

     19,631 - from Russia

     18,000 - from Mexico

       7,793 - from India

2.5% of the U.S. population is estimate to be adopted children;

2.5% are estimated to be age 18 or over;

4.4-million step-kids are under 18, or

5% of the population is estimated to be step-children

     -2000 U.S. Census

 

As with all surveys, estimates may vary from the actual values because of sampling variations or other factors but were stated as a "90% confidence level" and that "after age 18, leaving home for school, jobs, military service, or to start a household, strongly affects the number of 'children' living with their parents, regardless of the type of parent-child relationship."  But why just "over 18?"  Younger teenagers also move out on their own.  Another flaw in the count may be that adopters often don't disclose the adoptive status of their children.  What was known more definitely in Y-2000 is that:

 

$1.4-billion dollars is the value placed on "Adoption services" in 1999;

$10-million dollars is the average gross income of larger adoption agencies despite

        that only 138,000 adoptions were reported in 1999,

          - Marketdata Enterprises   http://www.mkt-data-ent.com

 

Shouldn't the American taxpayer be wondering about the disproportionate expense?"  And the Census cannot tell us the total number of adopted adults living in the United States as result of five decades of adoptions in every state under a closed system requiring falsification of birth records, anonymity and secrecy.

     Statistics of Adoption is the only compilation of past and current adoption related statistics, "at a glance" by category, from such a wide variety of sources cited, as it affects adoptees from past and present-day adoptions.

     For additional statistical and in-depth studies and narratives highlighting the problems with (and alternatives to) adoption, foster care and prisons -- America's three symbiotic, closed systems--this writer suggests the currently free online 300 page e-book, CHOSEN CHILDREN: Billion Dollar Babies in America's Foster Care, Adoption & Prison Systems at http://TheChosenChildren.com 

      Statistics are a means of manipulating the public's perceptions according to the preparer's position. Statistics can be skewed, propagandized, or entirely suppressed--especially by governments. For instance, on September 21, 2000,  NCCPR Newswire (Alexandria, VA) reported:

 

      "...The highly touted increase in adoptions of foster children announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services actually masks the failure of a new federal adoption law....The actual annual increase in foster care adoptions since passage of the so-called Adoption and Safe Families Act equals fewer than one point one percent (1.1%) of the total number of children in foster care on any given day.," said Richard Wexler, Executive Director of the National Coalition for Child Protection reform. "America will never adopt its way out of the foster care crisis...because even as it encouraged adoption, ASFA made it easier than ever before to take children from their parents just because those parents are poor."

 

 

HISTORY OF ADOPTION DATA COLLECTION

 

The more comprehensive data was gathered by the federally-funded National Center for Social Statistics (NCSS) 1957 through 1975, when states voluntarily reported on "all finalized adoptions." But it did not account for "all adoptions" and there is no organized, ongoing effort to do so at this time. Since 1980, the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) [formerly American Public Welfare Association] has collected information on the foster care system through the Voluntary Cooperative Information System (VCIS). Data submitted on a voluntary basis is incomplete and inconsistent. After the dissolution of NCSS, Victor and Carol Flango at the National Center for State Courts in Williamsburg, Virginia, conducted a review of court records, bureau of vital statistics and social service agencies, with funds from the Children's Bureau's Adoption

Information Improvement  Project. Their findings were published between 1990 and 1995,and serve as "the most recent complete picture of adoption in the U.S." They tell us that states with greater populations had the highest number of adoptions.....but not total number of all adoptees in the U.S. The U.S.

     Despite spending $2.6 billion dollars to conduct the 1990 Census, it under-represented minorities and it categorizes children as "natural or by adoption" without differentiating, while special laws were implemented to "protect" and separate adoption

affected families....including a $140,000,000 Block Grant appropriation in Y-2000 for adoption and foster care.

     A "continuous" census (instead of every ten years) was proposed in 1995 but has not been implemented. The Census Bureau is under the Department of Commerce. Instead of an agency dedicated to counting heads as the Constitution ordered, it has become a giant polling operation. Even the government cannot rely on i's most often cited broad official "guesstimate" of  "5 to 10 million adoptees in the U.S."

     Private agency or independent adoptions, which account for more than 80% of California's adoptions, for instance, are difficult to track, particularly when they cross state and country borders.

     No one knows how many U.S. children leave the country to be adopted abroad, nor how many U.S. and foreign children fell victim to black market adoptions. Few of the 150,000 New York City "orphans," whom Children's Aid Society sent West

on Orphan Trains in the 75 years from 1853 to 1920, are still living. Many were formally adopted, their actual numbers unknown, just as the number of "informal adoptions" among several decades of Black families is unknown.

     Even adoptees and their parents cannot "prove" their biological relatedness nor adoptive status due to the withholding of documentation, including relinquishment agreements, true birth records, adoption decrees. Often the hospital record of birth is

treated as "confidential," withheld from the parties named in them, if, years ago, someone stamped "Illegitimate" across it or if there is some indication of a subsequent adoption.  Medical birth records are often legally destroyed years before an adult adoptee knows where to look for them.

     In 1953, a young social worker, Jean Paton, published her studies on the negative affects of secrecy-- the first follow-up study of adoptive families since the states began sealing birth records of adoptees in the 1940's. Paton, an adoptee, had free access to her adoption file but was later refused access after the state sealed her record--and her mother's identity.

     Her studies and writings provided impetus for what is now an international Open Records Movement and International Soundex Reunion Registry (ISRR). ISRR, run by Anthony Vilardi, Carson City, Nevada, maintains a secrecy policy not to reveal a total count on the number of  its registrants and claims not to know how many are adopted, yet shares "the ratio of children to their family members is approximately 5 to 3, espectively" in 1997. The Open Records Movement has also spawned a cottage industry of searchers who quietly circumvent state laws to find their own families, to access their own records and to help others do the same--usually for a hefty fee.

      Under the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (PL-96-272), a provision called for statewide tracking systems for children in foster care who received care within the previous 12 months; the Reagan Administration chose to implement a "voluntary" system that ultimately proved to be inconsistent from state to state. (See "Adoption Rate Varies Widely, a State-by-State Survey Finds," New York Times, 8-8-97, P.A-16.)

     On 7-24-89, White House Memo #906627, "Administration Support for the Adoption Option," put the federal government into the business of adoption by mandating Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) to assist Adopters; later, federal subsidies

were made available to adopters of a broad category of "special needs" children as the government was beginning to eliminate family preservation programs, cut welfare and successful CETA-Private Industry Council job training/placement programs. In Fall, 1986, Congress passed a law mandating a National Data Collection System for foster care and adoption. It included a five-year timetable of steps in the process to insure Federal Regulations in place by 12-31-88 and full implementation by 10-1-91; proposed Regulations were not published until 9-27-90 and on 10-9-91, Wade Horn, Commissioner of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a memorandum delaying implementation indefinitely, and publication of Regulations until 8-92, despite an annual federal foster care budget of over $2-billion dollars. It's 12-98 implementation date was not met.

     In 1997, with passage of the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System (AFCARS), States are required to collect case-specific data on all children in foster care for whom the State child welfare agency has responsibility for placement, care, or supervision regardless of eligibility for Title V-E-- including placements by private agencies under contract with the public child welfare agency. Many adoptions fall through the cracks due to private adoptions not under state contract.

     Also in 1997, Congress tied adoption funding for reporting... and U.S. Senator Carl Levin got his National Voluntary Mutual Reunion Registry Bill S.1487 passed in the Senate (after it had failed in 1998). It imposes a $5,000 fine or up to one year imprisonment for disclosing confidential information, making it a federal crime to disclose who you are or who your parents are. Adoption search and reform groups favor International Soundex Reunion Registry (ISRR)--and open records.

      Kansas and Alaska permit adult adoptees access to their original birth certificates. Tennessee, where 5,000 children were kidnapped for black market adoption in the 1950's-60's by Georgia Tann, Director of Tennessee Children's Home Society, is

a state whose "adult access" law was, at first, challenged in the 1990's in federal court by the sealed records lobby of adoption agencies but eventually became law. California, dubbed the largest market for stolen children in the U.S., failed to pass 1990's

open records law proposed by Assemblyman Chuck Quackenbush.

     Until recently, no state legislated mandatory collection of even non-identifying family background and medical information pre-adoption. Adoption disclosure statutes, agency policies and procedures, which differ from state to state, and even from county to county, may permit summarized identifying information to the parties it concerns, usually for a fee and, in highly populated areas, after a long wait. Agency conditions for identifying disclosure include unsolicited mutual consents or confidentiality waivers of parties who may be deceased or out of state and not know of law changes, "confidential intermediaries" (who may prevent contact indefinitely), psychological counseling, court and agency discretion, non-refundable registry fees, intermediary and search fees--often pocketed without provision of services.

     Only 2% of requests for information and statistics from The National Adoption Information Clearinghouse (out of 430 requests made in their first year, 4-88 to 4-89), were made by federal agency staff. In 1989, Ruth Hubbell of the Clearinghouse stated "It will be a few years before we collect search or reform data."  However, on 1-6-98 Amy Thurston of the Clearinghouse requested AmFOR's first edition of Statistics of Adoption.

     - LORI CARANGELO, President

       AMERICANS FOR OPEN RECORDS (AmFOR)

 

 

ABORTION as it relates to ADOPTION

 

More abortions than adoptions are performed annually.

     -Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1960,-70,-80.

 

Increasing Adoption Does Not Decrease Abortion:

 

1,000 relinquishing mothers who later aborted said they chose abortion to avoid the pain

       of lifelong uncertainty over the child's fate if relinquished to secret adoption."

     -Americans For Open Records (AmFOR) 1997 Survey of

       1,000 Relinquishing  Mothers Who Later Aborted.

 

90% of adolescent mothers in the U.S. who reject adoption and abortion

         raise their babies.

       -Los Angeles Times, 1-6-91, p.E-1

 

There have been more than 38,000,000 abortions in the 26 years since the US Supreme Court legalized unrestricted abortion

on January 22, 1973, as follows:

   744,600 - 1973

   898,600 - 1974

1,034,200 - 1975

1,179,300 - 1976

1,316,700 - 1977

1,409.600 - 1978

1,497,700 - 1979

1,553,900 - 1980

1,573,900 - 1981

1,573,900 - 1982

1,575,000 - 1983

1,577,200 - 1984

1,588,600 - 1985

1,574,000 - 1986

1,559,100 - 1987

1,590,800 - 1988

1,566,900 - 1989

1,608,600 - 1990

1,556,500 - 1991

1,528,900 - 1992

1,500,000 - 1993

1,431,000 - 1994

1,363,690 - 1995

1,365,730 - 1996

1,365,730 - 1997-Estimate

1,365,730 - 1998-Estimate

1,365,730 - 1999-Estimate

30,010,378- Total abortions since 1973

                    -Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1973-1996 totals, cited in

                      "Abortion Services in the United States, 1991 & 1992"

                      by Stanley K. Henshaw, et al; Family Planning Perspectives,

                      vol. 26, no. 3 (May/June 1994), p. 101;

                      Alan Guttmacher Institute;

                      a possible 3% underreporting rate favored the total. National

                      Right to Life estimates for 1998 & 1999.

 

2,795 teenagers per day get pregnant;

1,106 abortions per day are performed on teenagers.

     -Children's Defense Fund;

       reprinted in Adoptalk, newsletter of NACAC, Summer 1990

 

14% of parents surveyed would advise their teenage daughter,

             if she became pregnant, to marry the father;

22% would advise her to raise the child alone;

15% would advise her to give the child up for adoption;

11% would advise her to get an abortion;

20% would advise their teenage son, if he got someone pregnant, to marry the mother;

7% would advise him to help pay for an abortion;

52% would advise him to help pay for medical expense and child support;

1% would advise him to try to get out of the situation.

                            -TIME magazine poll, 7-2-90, P.24

 

Over 4,300 abortions are performed each day in the U.S.

      -Alan Guttmacher Institute (the federal research arm of

        Planned Parenthood Federation of America), 3-87.

 

14% of donors to the pro-abortion National Organization for Women (NOW)

        also support the anti-abortion organization, Operation Rescue.

         -Survey by Barna Research Group, Glendale, CA

           reported in More Than Money, Spring 1995 issue

 

ADOPTEES

 

o The number of Serial Killers who are adopted is disproportionate to the general population who are serial killers.

o TWICE as many adopted killers are in the category of Adoptees Who Killed Their Adopters.

 

60-85% of internees at Coldwater Canyon Center For Personal Development,

      psychiatric facility are adoptees; most are referrals from Juvenile Probation Dept.

        -Dr. Lee Bloom, Former Unit Director

          Coldwater Canyon Hospital, Hollywood, CA; reported in

         "Growing Up Behind Locked Doors," Rolling Stone magazine, 11-20-86.

 

20-35% of internees at several hundred private psychiatric hospitals in 13 regions

         were adoptees.

         -Betty Jean Lifton, American Adoption Congress conference, 1988,

          from a report by an Illinois doctor.

70% of internees at a Monroe, Washington psychiatric facility were adoptees.

         -Reported to American Adoption Congress conference,

           1988 by Washington Adoptee Rights Movement (WARM)

            attended by a Monroe counselor.

 

5-15% of patient load in mental clinics is the average reported figure for adoptees

        under psychiatric care, although official (govt.) stats estimate only 2% of U.S.

        population are adoptees. (Theory: a child's ignorance of his past causes

        "genealogical bewilderment" [and so is] prone to dysfunction.)

12% of adolescents and children in private therapy are adopted;

20-30% of adolescents and children in psychiatric in-patient units are adoptees;

        -An Open Adoption, Lincoln Caplan, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, NY,

          as cited in Bottom Line, 9-15-90

 

14% of adoptees end up in therapy, and

40% of adoptees end up in schools for disturbed children

          (of the estimated 2% of the population who are adoptees).

        -Dr. Steven Nickman as quoted by Dr. Phyllis Chesler in

         Scared Bond (Geraldo show transcript #225, 7-28-88)

 

40% of psychiatric internees surveyed were adoptees;

         adopted children have a higher rate of emotional and

         psychological problems than the general population of youngsters

            -Mothers On Trial, Dr. Phyillis Chesler,

             quoting Dr. William Murdoch, child psychologist at

             Loma Linda University School of Medicine, and

            Director, Charter Hospital-Redlands Child In-Patient Unit

 

13% of 69 firesetters were adoptees compared to a

        control group of non-firesetters which had only 3% adoptees.

          -Dr. Wayne S. Wooden and Dr. Martha Lou Berkey,

          a study of youthful firesetters in the San

          Bernadino County, CA, Juvenile Justice System

 

45% of all 602's (felonies committed by juveniles) are by adoptees.

   -Interstate Compact On Children, as reported by June Idler,

     Juvenile Compact, Riverside County Juvenile Probation Dept, 1988

 

20% of adolescents in drug rehabilitation and residential substance abuse

      treatment programs are adopted.

        -Center For Adoptive Families.

Adoptees Who Kill

"I'm afraid to get angry."
-(Quote by Attorney Donald Humphrey, an adoptee, regarding male adoptees' inability to express emotion)

16% of 500 serial killers are adoptees.
-- FBI statistics - http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/foiaindex_s.htm

14% of 225 serial killers are adoptees
-- Dr. Mike Aamodt, Radford University

Web pages at http://AdoptedPrisoners.com & http://www.adoptedkillers.com provide a name and face to adoptees who have killed including Serial Killers, Adoptees Who Kill Their Adopters. Chosen Children, a free 300-page e-book at http://TheChosenChildren.com contains in-depth research on Serial Killers, the majority of whom are Adoptees, as well as unscripted narratives incarcerated adoptees (drug addicts, thieves, murderers, a child molester), and what makes their crimes unique to adoptees.

As with any stress, adoption can affect different people in different ways and to different degrees. Male adoptees appear to deal with their feelings of rejection with more rage and aggression than do females. The ultimate expression of such rage is an act of violence, even murder. In 1997, one 100 children under age 10 were charged with murder (Frontline, PBS, 12-16-97); "tough on crime" politicos seek to prosecute them as adults and claim they are "genetically defective."

ADOPTERS

 

Who Adopts?

 

2,000,000 women between the ages of 14 and 44 who

                were surveyed in 1988, had ever sought to adopt a child.

Of these,

1.3-million did not adopt,

620,000 had adopted one or more children;

 204,000 were currently seeking.

           -CASAnet Resource Library online; "Foster Care and Adoption Statistics

             Summary," CRS Report for Congress; 1-15-97;  Child

Welfare League of America

 

232,000 married women had taken steps toward adopting in 1995;

            -National Center for Health Statistics, 1999

 

11-25% of couples with infertility problems had taken steps toward adopting in 1996;

12-25% of adoptions, depending on state law, are by single persons..

              [Note: This figure would include single lesbian and gay

                adopters with partners.]

               -Shireman, 1995

 

 2,000,000 couples competed for 58,000 children placed for adoption in 1984

                  - a ratio of 35:1.

                  -"Adoption--It's Not Impossible," Andrew B. Wilson,

                    Business Week, 7-8-85, p. 112

 

20% of adopters  (as compared to 20% of mothers) felt anxious, and

10% of each group felt depressed in their first 6 weeks of motherhood,

             fatigue being more prevalent among mothers.

            -"Family Medicine", a study of 200 new mothers, 1-91

 

1,500,000 (estimated) American children are being raised

                  by their grandparents, up 1,000,000 from 1990;

                  About 400 support groups offer advice to grandparents

                   raising their children's children.

                   -Capper's, 9-23-97, p.11

                            (Note: Grandparents often adopt the grandchildren they

                            are raising for legal protections; no  figures are available but

                            there have been many resulting lawsuits by parents seeking to

                            block such adoptions or to regain custody of their children

                            from their parents; in past times, many grandparents raised

                            "illegitimate" grandchildren as if they were siblings of their

                            own children.)

 

ADOPTION

(See also Intercountry adoption)

 

Number of U.S. Domestic Adoptions

 

1,400,000 (1.4-million or 87% of all adoptions) were domestic adoptions in 2000.

   200,000 (or 13% of all adoptions) were of foreign-born children

1,600,000 - Total Number of Adoptions in the U.S. in 2000

     -U.S. Census, 2000

 

FY Estimated 2002 U.S. Domestic Adoption Totals, by States Reporting,

of 50,000 U.S. Children Adopted from Foster Care, published by

North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC), Summer 2003

 

Alabama                      279

Alaska

Arkansas

California

Colorado                     891

Connecticut                 564

Delaware                    132

D.C.                             313

Florida                                 2,246

Georgia                    1,054

Hawaii                                    366

Idaho

Iowa                            880

Kansas

Kentucky                     552

Louisiana                     474

Maine

Maryland                     965

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota                    627

Mississippi

Missouri                   1,350

Montana

Nebraska

New Hampshire            144

New Jersey              1,364

New York

New Mexico

North Carolina         1,359

North Dakota

Ohio                         2,165

Oklahoma

Oregon                     1,118

Pennsylvania            2,020

South Carolina

South Dakota              145

Tennessee                    922

Texas                        2,292

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia              361

Wisconsin                   939

Wyoming                     50

 

 

190,000 children were adopted from foster care in 1999

     -U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, AFCARS Report

 

50,000 children were adopted from public foster care in 2001;

50% were male;

50% were female;

38% were White;

35% were Black;

16% were Hispanic

     -U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, AFCARS Report

                                   

 

Value & Costs of U.S. Adoption

 

$1.4-billion is the "value" placed on "adoption services" in the U.S. despite only

138,000 adoptions in the same year, 1999;

11.5% is the projected annual growth to 2004;

$10-million is the average gross income for larger adoption agencies in 1999.

       -Marketdata Enterprises, Tampa, FL - http://www.mkt-data-ent.com/

 

$60,000+ is the "average cost" of a private adoption in the U.S. since 1999.

     -Reported by adoption agencies to Amy Thurston, Spokesperson

       National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, Washington, DC

       (1-888-251-0075)

 

$0-$2,500 is the cost for domestic public agency adoption in 1999;

           attorney fees for finalizing the adoption are additional;

$4,000-$30,000+ was the cost for a domestic private agency adoption;

$8,000-$30,000+ was the cost for a domestic independent adoption;

        -National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, Washington, DC

         http://www.childwelfare.gov/ 

 

 

$140 million was appropriated in Y-2000 just for Block Grant Title XX,

            adoption and foster care.

           -Adoptalk, Winter 2000, Newsletter of North American

              Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC)

 

$67.3 billion, conservatively estimated, is spent for the 3 symbiotic systems of

            foster care, adoption, prisons (not including private foundation

            grants, private post-adoption psychotherapy, all juvenile detention facilities,

            nor monitoring of 2.6 million parolees/probationers, nor counting privatized

            prisons in 27 states).

              -Chosen Children at http://TheChosenChildren.com 

               [Documents that former foster kids & adoptees are over-represented in

                prison the population.]

 

Adoption Subsidies

 

 [See Preface for failure of Federal Adoption Law (subsidies) to move children out of foster care.] Federal and state benefits are being paid as adoption incentives in addition to employer-paid benefits such as reimbursement for a portion of adoption expenses and unpaid leave. No benefits accrue to families; family preservation funds and Aid to Dependent Families & Children (AFDC) was cut:

 

$   5,000 per child is the Federal Adoption Tax Credit, effective January 1, 1997;

$ 10,000 per child in 2002;

$   6,000 per "special needs" child is the Federal Adoption Tax Credit to 2002;

$ 12,000 per "special needs" child in 2002;

$   2,500-up is the Federal Non-Recurring Adoption Expense Reimbursement;

$9,000,000 was established by the National Adoption Foundation (Danbury, CT)

     to provide unsecured loans to adopters (usually in the $2500-range);

     "Adoption Cancellation Insurance" is available for purchase by adopters

     from Kemper Insurance Company, through MBO (Menlo Park, CA);

$ 2,000 per adoption is paid for "special needs" child from child welfare system;

12,858 new State adoption subsidies were approved by New York in 1999;

62% of children receiving an adoption subsidy in  New York qualified because

            they were "hard to place"  [Note: all are receiving a subsidy but

            62% are solely because they were hard to place];

25% of children who qualified for a subsidy had physical or severe medical

            conditions [Note: 75% of the children receiving special needs subsidy are

            for "Personality" or "behavioral" reasons; 25% are for "legitimate" handicaps]

50% of all "special needs" children are placed in adoptive homes headed by a single mother;  more male than female children were adopted with subsidy in New York;

although the 2000 Census estimates that more foreign-born adoptions are of female children;  [Note:  Unknown is the number of unemployed single adopters living off the warehousing of a child]

 

Total Number of Americans Affected

 

140,000,000 Americans (50% of the U.S. population) have an adoption in their

            immediate family.

            -Americans For Open Records (AmFOR) estimate, based on surveys of

              adoptive families, by adoption search-support umbrella organizations in

              the American Open Records Movement, particularly Musser Foundation,

             1990, and on the generally accepted definition of "family."

 

DEFINITION: "Immediate family" includes:  one's grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, spouse, children and grandchildren.

            -The Family History Center, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints;

              reprinted in "Dear Abby," Los Angeles Times, 5-30-92

 

6 in 10 Americans have had a personal experience with adoption;

            a majority of Americans are personally affected by adoption.

             -Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, 1997 Survey of 1,554

               adults; the survey found that 6 in 10 are either adopted

               themselves, or a close family member or friend was adopted,

              or had adopted a child, or had placed a child for adoption.

 

1 in 15 persons are personally affected by adoption.

   -Clinical Practice of Adoption, (psychology practitioner guidebook),

    Pergamon Press; Robin C. Winkler, Dirck Brown, Margaret van Keppel,

    Amy Blanchard.

 

1-million children in the U.S. live with adoptive parents, and

2%-4% of American families include an adopted child.

       -K.S. Stolley, 1993, in "Future of Children,"

        Center for Future of Children, Los Altos, CA

 

2% of the U.S. population, or 5-10-million Americans, are adoptees.

         -Adoption Factbook,  National Council For Adoption

 

100,000+ adoption-related web-sites exist on Internet.

          -World Wide Web search engine results for keyword "adoption"

 

107,000 adoptions were facilitated in 1960;

175,000 adoptions were facilitated in 1970;

141,861 adoptions were facilitated in 1980;

         -Statistical Abstract of the U.S. (For 1992, see Flango, below)

 

141,861 adoptions were facilitated in 1982; of those,

  91,141 adoptions were by biological relatives;

  50,720 adoptions were by non-relatives;

  17,602 (of the 50,720) were adoptions of healthy white infants;

    5,702 (of the 50,720) were adoptions of foreign children;

  14,005 (of the 50,720) were adoptions of special needs children;

    9,591 (of the 50,750) were adoptions by foster parents.

           -Adoption Factbook, 1985,

             National Committee For Adoption, Washington, DC

 

127,441 children of all races and nationalities were adopted in the U.S. in 1992

42% (53,525) of the total were relative adoptions;

37.5% (47,627) of the total were either private agency or

              independent adoptions of U.S. children;

15.5% (19,753) of the total were conducted by public agencies;

5% (6,536) of the total were from other countries, adopted by U.S. citizens1992

             -Immigration/Naturalization Service, FY 1993, 1994, 1995);

               "The Flow of Adoption Information from the States,"

               Victor E. Flango, Carol R. Flango, National Center for State Courts,

               (1-6-98, National Adoption Information Clearinghouse)

 

14,095 children were adopted out of 592,954 (2%) in foster care, 1990;

20,108 children were adopted out of 652,256 (3.1%) in foster care in 1991;

20,298 children were adopted out of 638,647 (3.1%) in foster care in 1992;

22,412 children were adopted out of 655,787 (3.4%) in foster care in 1993;

19,224 children were adopted out of 692,506 (2.7%) in foster care in 1994

             -Federal government VCIS Surveys for 1990-1994,

               "Population Flow Exhibit 15"

 

14,722 adoptions in California in 1992;

  9,570 adoptions in New York in 1992;

  8,235 adoptions in Texas in 1992;

  6,839 adoptions in Florida in 1992;

  6,599 adoptions in Illinois in 1992.

              -Flango and Flango, 1994

 

42% or 53,525 adoptions were kinship or stepparent adoptions in 1992.

              -Flango and Flango, 1994

 

8% of adoptions were transracial in 1992.

               -K.S. Stolley, 1993, in "Future for Children" for

                Center for Future of Children, Los Altos, CA

 

760,000 children are reported missing each year;

              unknown numbers are stolen for secret adoption.

              -Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Washington, DC

 

Percentages of Failed Adoptions

 

13% of all adopted children were returned to state officials in 1989;

25% of all adopted children who are older or who have physical or emotional

           problems were returned by their adopters in 1989.

            -Child Welfare League of America

 

1,000 children per year are returned to adoption agencies by their adopters;

 2% of the 1,000 are under age 2;

25% are ages 12-17 will be sent back to agencies and their adoptions dissolved;

          (Note: adoptions are not followed up beyond first year).

 3-5 couples out of every 100 adoptions are expected to file claims against

           agencies' adoption insurance policies due to mothers revoking consent to

            adoption.

            -Reprinted in Quest, Newsletter of Kinquest Inc, 12-90

 

4 years is the maximum wait for a foster child to be adopted as prescribed by

         New York State Child Welfare Reform Act;

6 years is the true average wait for a foster child to be adopted in New York.

          -"No Place To Call Home: Discarded Children in America,"

            U.S. House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families,

            12-11-89; and The Foster Care Monitoring Committee's

             report to the Mayor of New York, 1990.

 

15% of ALL adoptions fail.

             -Marsha Riben, in

              Shedding Light on the Dark Side of Adoption

 

50%-80% of ALL FOREIGN adoptions are terminated.

           -from agency and association estimates quoted in  "Foreign Adoption Sours;

             Risk Not Uncommon," Saginaw News, 2-24-91.

 

Black Market Adoptions

 

5,000 babies a year are illegally brought into the U.S.;

$1,000 to $50,000 U.S. was the cost of black market  adoptions or

        baby buying (baby broker receiving bulk of profits).

        -"In The Market For Babies," The Plain Truth, 9-90, p.28

 

10,000 children are known to be illegally transported abroad each year,

          most of them by an estranged parent. [as of 2001;  unknown numbers

          leave the U.S. for illicit purposes including black market adoptions.]

             -National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Alexandria,VA

 

 $80,000 is what a black market adoption can cost, 1996 to present.

              -Los Angeles Times, 6-22-96, B-7

 

$120,000 is the price a child can bring for other illicit purposes.

               -Enslaved, by Gordon Thomas (published by Pharos)

 

2,000 adoption placements goal set for Los Angeles County Dept. of Children and

         Family Services for 1998 was protested by social workers who are

         supporters of family reunification.

               -"Social Workers Protest Increased Adoption Goal,"

                  Los Angeles Times, 4-10-97, B-10.

Adoption Agencies

 

55 out of 127 National Council For Adoption (NCFA) member agencies are

         Mormon;

11 out of the 127 are affiliated with the Edna Gladney Center in Texas.

 

 

ADOPTION SEARCH & SUPPORT

 

72% of adolescent American adoptees want to know why they were adopted;

 65% want to meet their parents; and

 94% want to know which parent they look like.

         -National Adoption Information Clearinghouse

           & Reader's Digest, http://www.rd.com, 7/2003

 

80% of 854 parents contacted in 4 states (AL, DE, OR, TN--which recently

         passed legislation permitting adult adoptees access to their original birth

         certificates) consented to the contact.

          -"Open Records Trigger Requests by Adoptees"

            by Cheryl Wetzstein, Washington Times, 1-20-03

 

80% of  parents actively search for their children;

99% of parents found by adoptees wanted to be found;

80% of adoptees polled actively search for their families;

100% of adoptees found by their parents wanted to be found.

        -Americans For Open Records (AmFOR)

 

1,500,000 registrants were claimed by Adoptees Liberty

            Movement Assoc. (ALMA) reunion registry, 1971-1988;

 51,000 registrants claimed by International Soundex Reunion

              Registry (ISRR) in 1988;*

 98% successful reunions claimed by Adoptee-Birthparents'

               Assn.,(ABA), 1973-1988.

               -as told to Americans For Open Records (AmFOR)

                 by Florence Fisher (ALMA), Emma May

                 Vilardi (ISRR), Alberta Sorenson (ABA) in 1988.

 

200,000 registrants are claimed by Virginia Long, Adoptee Searches Inc., MO

               -Rural, Missouri newsclip, 5-94

 

60,000 or more Americans in New York City are engaged in searches for

              biological parents or children separated by adoption.

               -American Adoption Congress, citing  "Are You My Mother?,"

                 Elizabeth Taylor, TIME, 10-0-89. p.90.

 

14,000 reunions, in 14 years,  of adoptees & their family members,

                 were quietly facilitated, without charge, by

                 Americans For Open Records (AmFOR), 1989-2003.

 

2 years is the adoptee's average wait for non-identifying information, or family

          contact via confidential intermediaries,  in Denver, Arkansas;

1-1/2 years in Los Angeles, in Y-2000.

 44,000 adoptions in the past century were facilitated in  Los Angeles County by

            Children's Home Society, a private adoption agency;

1,500 requests per year from adoptees and mothers hoping for reunions are

             received by CHS;

20% of them achieve reunions through CHS.

                   -"Mystery Baby," Bob Pool, Los Angeles Times, 1-12-92, B-1

 

4 states (only) provide adult adoptees with their original birth certificates upon request with ID --  AK/KS/TN/OR;

 9 states have no provisions whatsoever for obtaining information post

     adoption, except by court order impossible to obtain]:

     DE, MT, NH, NC, RI, VT, WY;  Iowa offers an application form for

     pre-1941;

21 states provide non-identifying information to parents:

      AL, AZ, AR, CA, CT, DE, HI, IN, MD, MA, MI, MN,

       NM, NC, OK, OR, RI, SC, UT, VT, WA.

ALL states provide non-identifying info to adopters;

ALL states except DC, NJ, NV provide non-identifying info to

         adoptees at age of majority (age differs from state to state).

47 states have voluntary reunion registries (Passive Registries):

          AR, CA, FL, ID, IL, IA, LA, ME, MD, MA, MO, NV,

           NM, NY, OK, RI, SC, SD, TX, UT, WV;

           (Active Registries):  AL, AZ, CO, CT, DE, GA, IN, KS,

            KY, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT NE, NH, NJ, NM, ND,

            OR, PA, TN, VT, WA, WI, WY;

           (Parent Registries) AL, AK, GA, KY, MI, NE, PA, WI

              -National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, 10/97; cited in

             -The Ultimate Search Book-2005 at

              http://UltimateSearchBook.com 

 

$5,000 is the highest fine (in California) for "unauthorized disclosure from a

             sealed adoption record," (exceeded only by former Soviet Union

              whose vital records are not public);

$100 (and/or 30 days in jail) is the fine in Idaho;

$500-2,000 (and/or 90 days) is the fine in Kentucky and Louisiana;

        in New Hampshire, violating confidentiality of  adoption is a misdemeanor;

        in Texas and some other states, the penalty is greater than for unlicensed

        placement or babyselling;

99 years is how long the present National Uniform Adoption Act

       mandates sealing of adoptees' birth records, with provisions for fine and

       imprisonment for unauthorized disclosure.

 

"Right To Know" Polls

 

82% (641,016) of "Playgirl" Magazine's readership polled favored adoptees'

          "right to know"and seek out their "natural parents."

            -Playgirl Magazine, Reader's Poll, August 1985

 

POLL:

QUESTION: Should adoptees be able to access their own birth records?

77% - Yes, in all cases

21% - Yes, except when the mother has requested otherwise

2% - No.

QUESTION: Should the release of information be restricted  to medical records

         and not include the identity of  parents?

70% - No.

30% - Yes.

QUESTION: Should mothers be informed when their children access

            their birth records?

76% - Yes.

22% - No.

           -Parenting Magazine (results of August 2000 Poll

            published November 2000, p. 30)

 

86% of Americans believe that an individual's right to privacy

             is more important than the public's right to access information

             that the government collects.

             -"Commentary:   Press Must Encourage Open Records,

               Not Feed Public's Privacy Fear" by Kenneth A. Paulson,

               Senior Vice-President, The Freedom Forum, and Executive

               Director of The First Amendment Center, citing

               Associated Press Poll, in Newsstand & Archives, Forum News, 1997,

                  http://www.freedomforum.org/newsstand/forum_news/1997/12s.asp 

 

94% of adoptees who wrote to public officials favored

             model state adoption legislation allowing open records;

  6% opposed it.

             -Study by Harriet Ganson & Judith Cook, 1986, presented

              to American Sociological Assn. 81st Annual Meeting

 

42% of ALL adoptees, and

42% of ALL parents were searching in 1989.

        -American Adoption Congress

 

80% of 350 adolescent adoptees in a 7-year study had questioned their adopters

        and others about their pre-adoptive backgrounds;

20% had taken steps to obtain their records.

         -Arnold Silverman & William Fiegelman, sociologist-professors,

            Nassau Community College, SUNY 7-year study of

            350 adoptive families, 1983, reported in New York Times,

             9-7-83, p.A-22.

 

65% of adoption search-support groups' members were female;

75% of members "on line" for national computer bulletin board

           searches were male;

40 times more mothers than fathers were searching for their children.

           -1989 surveys, Jone Carlson

            People Searching News, Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

 

35% of adoptees registered in Minnesota were able  to achieve contact

          through the state's  Intermediary System, whereas

97% of Concerned United Birthparents registrants achieved successful reunions;

97% of 400 reunions facilitated by Orphan Voyage in Massachusetts in 1976

          were successful, with only 12 rejections;

97% of over 5,000 reunions facilitated since 1971 by Adoptees Liberty Movement

          Assn. (ALMA), New York, were successful.

97% of 312 (or 303) contacts made by Washington Adoptees Rights Movement

          (WARM), Washington, were successful;

98% of reunions facilitated by The Adoption & Family Awareness Center

             (Div. of Musser Foundation, FL) were successful, with

             95% of cases resulting in locating person;

             50% completed in less than 90 days, 20% taking longer.

                            Out of 260 searches:

                            126 requests for search help came from adoptees;

                            102 requests were from parents;

                            12 from siblings;

                             6 from grandparents;

                             6 from adopters;

                             8 were searching for fathers only;

                            16 found mother deceased but were reunited with sibs;

                            25 mothers had married the father;

                            35 mothers never had other children;

                            92 adoptees had been raised as an only child;

                              5 adoptees had not been told of their adoption;

                              5 fathers initiated the search;

                            72 years was the age of the oldest searching mother;

                            61 years was oldest adoptee completing a search;

                            19 years was youngest adoptee completing a search;

                            EVERY person surveyed, regardless of the outcome,

                                said they would do the search again.

                               -Sandra K. Musser,

                               Adoption and Family Awareness Center (FL).

 

489 (52%) of parties located by Arizona Confidential Intermediaries

               consented to contact;

63 (7%) of parties sought were deceased;

43 (5%) consented to exchange of non-identifying information

              (July 1992 - February 1999);

89 (10%) denied consent to exchange of information;

15 (2%) denied parental relationship

669 (75%) - Total

 

78 (8%) parties not located;

90 (10%) program closed for administrative reasons;

39 (4%) client withdrawal;

26% (3%) no Arizona adoption on record

934 total cases closed July 1993 - February 1999

6.88 average number of hours searched;

4.76 average number of hours billed;

$82.67 average fee charged per case;

$91.15 average costs billed per case;

143 average number of days to complete a search

272 cases currently open

      -Database Statistics from 77 Certified Arizona Confidential

       Intermediaries, 1999 at http://www.supreme.state.az.us/cip/stat.htm 

 

98-99% of mothers found by AmFOR and other search groups wanted to be found.

              -Americans For Open Records (AmFOR),

                which conducted over 14,000 searches/reunions 1989-2003

 

100% of adoptees found by AmFOR wanted to be found.

            Disinterest in "searching" is sometimes expressed by some

             adoptees, but it is usually couched in terms of fearing rejection

             or futility of searching rather than refusal of contact.

                 -Americans For Open Records (AmFOR), based on over

                       14,000 reunions, 1989-2003.

 

1 mother (out of thousands in 18 years) refused contact from her adult child.

          -Winona Durbin, Adoptions Social Worker, Riverside County

             Social Services, Riverside, CA

 

95% of adoptees were pleased with the outcome of reunions with their parents;

50% of reunited adoptees now visit on a regular basis;

17% of reunited adoptees had only one meeting.

          -Dr. Paul Sachdev, Professor, Memorial University, St. Johns, Newfoundland

 

65% of children born to unwed mothers don't know who their fathers are.

         -USA Today, 1995

 

25% of  fathers are "unknown" or "missing."

          -National Council For Adoption, as cited in "Fears Haunt Adoptive

            Parents," by John Bebow, Ann Arbor News, 8-29-93, p. A-9

 

30% of all divorced fathers lose contact with their children.

            -The Daily Telegraph, as quoted on

             The Ricki Lake Show, 1-6-95

 

3 out of 22 items of information concerning their own national, ethnic, religious

         backgrounds was all that was known to most adult adoptees surveyed.

          -1977 Study, Adoption-In-Search newsletter, Autumn/Winter 1986

 

35 matches in 9 years, of adoptees with parents, were

              facilitated by New York's State Registry as of 6-92, despite

2,119 adoptees and 932 "parents registered, at an average cost of $275 each;

             -New York Dept. of Social Services.

 

$200-up is what Arizona & several other states courts charge

            adoptees to search for parents via confidential intermediaries,

            with no guarantee of contact or disclosure, nor refund if

            contact is refused by the other party.

                -Letter and brochure from AZ State Court, Phoenix,

                 soliciting referrals from private search groups, 1999

 

$100 was the fee for records search and written/summarized information, plus

$ 75 for providing information in an interview with a social

        worker at Children's Home Society of CA-Los Angeles

        for provision to an adoptee of his own non-identifying

         background background information.

              -Raymond E. Cheroske, Director,

                Children's Home Society of CA-Los Angeles, 1-18-92 letter.

 

$2,500-up was the cost to a parent for an "underground" search

          for an adoptee by some major search organizations and

          "undergrounds" due to birth indexes being sold privately;

$30,000 is the price allegedly paid for California birth indexes

           by an adopter who sells names to adoptees & parents;

$200-up per name is what the Adopter in California charged

           for that information from California "Sealed" Birth Indexes;

$350-$2,500 was charged to adoptees and parents by private

           searchers; private investigators may charge more,

           depending on difficulty of finding or purchasing  information.

$450-$1,200 is a price range quoted for most searches with, "no guarantee";

$0 is the cost for adoption search help from Orphan Voyage

          chapters, Americans For Open Records (AmFOR), and

          very few others charge no search fees. The (Mormon) Family

          History Centers do not charge for genealogical searches but do not

           engage in adoption searches..

             -The Open Records Movement &

              The Ultimate Search Book-2005 - http://UltimateSearchBook.com 

 

$0 is the cost of locating someone by known name, nationwide,

         or by city/state/region,via a public library's address/phone

         databases (such as "PhoneDisc"), WhitePages.com,

         Searchgateway.com reverse lookups. Some

         search services charge from $69-$350-up for this.

            -AmFOR;  Rancho Mirage Public Library, Rancho Mirage, CA

 

$0 is the cost of search help via THE FREE  WORLDWIDE REGISTRY &

  SEARCH webpage at  http://www.AmFOR.net/SearchLinks.html 

 

$189 plus tax & shipping was the advertised price of

          -The Locator, an alleged search manual by Troy Dunn,

            aka International Locator/Caradium Publishing.

            -"The Cost of Searching" by Dana Kressierer,

              Insight to Adoption Triad, Columbus, OH

 

$200 is cost of "1-800-US-SEARCH" adoption "search guide"

            -reported to AmFOR (1998) by Joyce M. Cash, adopter

              in Milton, Florida, who was still at a dead end after reading it.

 

83.7% of adopters either agreed or strongly agreed that an

           adult adoptee should be able to obtain a copy of his/her

          original birth certificate.

               -Survey of New York Adoptive Parents, 1995-1995,

                  by Rosemary J. Avery, Cornell University,

                  and Judith Ashton, NY State Coalition For Children Inc,

                  in The Roundtable newsletter, Vol. 11, #1, p. 9-10

 

SEARCH-SUPPORT SURVEY
An Ongoing Survey at "Torn Asunder" web-site
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/springhill/801/tornasunder/facts

 

o BIRTH MOTHERS AND CONFIDENTIALITY
56% said they were not promised confidentiality

 

o DOES THE MEDIA FAIRLY PORTRAY BIRTH MOTHERS?
67% said No

 

o HOW DO ADOPTEES PREFER THAT INITIAL CONTACT BE MADE?
38% By letter
46% By Phone
8% By intermediary
8% Not at all

 

o HOW MANY REGISTER WITH THE ISRR
75% said they had registered

 

o HOW HONEST WAS THE ATTORNEY OR AGENCY?
13% felt that the agency/attorney were completely honest.
13% felt that the agency/attorney was blatantly dishonest
27% felt that some of the practices or statements were questionable.
27% felt they were lied to in at least some things.
20% don't know if they were lied to or not.

 

o HOW LONG HAD ADOPTIVE PARENTS BEEN TRYING TO ADOPT?
100% of those responding said they had been trying to adopt for 1-2 years.

 

o WHEN ARE ADOPTEES TOLD THEY ARE ADOPTED?
75% of all responding adoptees felt as thought they have always known
they were adopted and don't remember a defining moment of being told.
25% say that they were told between 6-10 years of age.

 

o OF THE ADOPTEES THAT REMEMBER BEING TOLD
63% were told by their adoptive Mothers.

 

o WHY DO ADOPTEES SEARCH?
50% Said they wanted to know ethnic or cultural heritage.
25% said they wanted medical information.
25% said they were wanting to have a "family type" relationship with
their Birth Family.

 

o THE GREATEST FEAR ADOPTIVE PARENTS HAVE CONCERNING THEIR CHILDREN'S SEARCH
60% said they were fearful that their children would be disappointed or hurt
20% were fearful of being replaced.

 

o A BIRTH PARENTS GREATEST FEAR CONCERNING THE OUTCOME OF THEIR SEARCH
57% were fearful that they would find that their child did not have a wonderful life.
14% were afraid that they would find that their child had died.

 

o ADOPTEES GREATEST FEAR CONCERNING THE OUTCOME OF THEIR SEARCH
33% are afraid that they will find that their Birth Parents are deceased.
22% are fearful of being rejected.
22% are afraid they will find that they are a product of rape.

 

o CONCERNING THE OUTCOME OF REUNION
Respondents are equally divided on the outcome of their reunion with an
equal number of people replying that it is:not worth the effort, has
problems but all parties are committed to working them out, or the
individual was rejected immediately.

 

o WHEN ADOPTEES WERE ASKED IF THEIR ADOPTIVE PARENTS PARTICIPATED IN THEIR SEARCHES
An equal number responded that their parents had either helped them, or
that they had been unable to tell their parents of their search.

 

o FALSIFIED BIRTH CERTIFICATES
80% of responding birth parents said they were given no information
concerning the fact that birth certificates and DOB's could be changed.

 

o WERE BIRTHPARENTS PROMISED THEY COULD HAVE CONTACT WITH THEIR ADULT CHILDREN AFTER ADOPTION?
50% said NO

 

FAMILY PRESERVATION

 

 Between 1983 and 1993, most of the growth in foster care in New York and Illinois was absorbed by kinship care.  While the number of foster children under state supervision increased in those states, relatives cared for most of the children who accounted for this growth.

     By 1993, kinship providers cared for a third of the foster children in New York, 40% of foster children in California, and almost half of the foster children in Illinois. Between  986 and 1990, 25 states had reported an increase in their use of kinship caregivers, from 18% of their foster care caseload to 31%. New York, Illinois and California were responsible for much of this increase.

     In California, AmFOR, along with Planned Parenthood and the Association of University Women, helped to pass a bill for "Priorities in Placement," requiring that priority in adoption placements be given to the child's biological relatives.

 

$300,000,000 is appropriated annually for Title IV-B

        Child Welfare Services; Title IV-E Foster Care allotment

         can be transferred to Title IV-B.)

999,100 children residing in 577,000 families had open cases

          in a public welfare agency in 1994;

57% of children live with at least 1 member of a nuclear family;

19% of children live with nuclear and extended family;

8% of children live with family and non-family members;

2% of children live with family in a shelter;

1% of children have no regular dwelling;

2% "other"

11% "unknown"

100%

 

48% of 999,100 children in the welfare system had developmental disabilities;

27% of children were emotionally disabled;

18% of children were learning disabled;

8% of children were hearing/speech sight impaired;

4% "other"

20% of 703,300 children were born prematurely;

28% of children had low birth weights;

28% of children had positive drug toxicology;

7% of children had positive alcohol toxicology;

2% of children were HIV positive

4% of children were under 1 year of age;

24% of children were 1-4 years of age;

25% of children were 9-12 years of age;

20% of children were 13-16 years of age;

7% of children were 17 years of age

8.5 years was the mean age;

8 years was the median age

46% of children being served were White (non-Hispanic);

41% of children were African-American (over-represented);

11% of children were Hispanic

4% "other" including 1% who were Native American,

         Alaskan Native and Asian/Pacific Islander

75% of cases--caretaker was "mother"(birth, adoptive, step);

5% of cases--caretaker was "father" (birth, adoptive, step);

2% of cases--caretaker was aunt or uncle;

1% of cases--caretaker was sibling (including half-sibling);

13% of cases--information not available

100% of 999,100 cases

 

*50% of caretakers lacked parenting skills;

34% of caretakers lacked employment skills;

29% of caretakers had parent-child conflict;

26% of caretakers had substance abuse problem;

22% of caretakers had mental health problem;

19% of caretakers had marital conflict;

11% of caretakers had battery by partner;

11% of caretakers had physical health problem;

10% of caretakers were homeless;

  4% of caretakers were incarcerated;

  4% of caretakers were institutionalized;

  3% of caretakers had mental retardation

   4% "other"

  (Total not 100% due to more than one category per case)

 

*19% of caretakers received parent training in-home;

*18% of caretakers received parenting classes

     Reasons for Non-Provision of Services:

                            Child     Caretaker

                            25%      21% -  service not available in the particular area;

                            16%      19% -  refusal/non-cooperation;

                            15%      10% -  waited-listed for service;

                            2%        18% -  ineligible;

                            5%          1% -  responsible agency refused to provide service;

                            4%          -0-  -  transportation not available;

                            -0-           3% -  primary caretakers not available;

                            20%         9% -  "other"

                          78,600 116,200

 

73% of cases--biological mother's average age was 31.7 years;

3% of cases--primary caretaker was under age 20;

37% of cases--families who receive services derived their

                        income from wages and salaries;

44% of cases--received food stamps;

44% of cases--on Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC);

55% of cases--received Medicaid;

16% of cases--enrolled in Women, Infants & Children

                          (WIC) nutrition program;

28% of families had "unstable" or temporary housing;

21% of families had neighborhood crime and drugs;

11% of families had extreme overcrowding;

  9% of families had problems with neighbors;

  8% of families had problems with landlords;

  7% of families faced eviction;

  7% of families had major household systems not working

  (Total not 100% die to more than 1 category per case.)

 

Services that Children & Families Received Directly from the Caseworker:

76% monitoring child safety;

63% coordination: telephone;

56% referral to other services;

53% coordination: review of progress reports;

48% counseling of caretaker;

44% coordination: interagency staffing;

43% counseling of primary caretaker

37% advocacy with school system;

37% investigation of abuse/neglect;

30% advocacy with health provider;

30% advocacy with public assistance;

  7% advocacy with other agencies/systems;

16% advocacy with juvenile agencies;

12% advocacy with housing agency or landlord;

   8% provide flexible dollars for emergencies

   (Total not 100% due to more than 1 category per case.)

             -"Characteristics of Children & Their Primary Caretakers,"

                US Dept. Of Health & Human Services, Children's Bureau

                US Government Printing Office, March 1, 1994

 

 

FOSTER CHILDREN, FOSTER CARE SYSTEM, ORPHANAGES

(see also Preface on failure of Federal Adoption Law to place foster kids in adoptive homes in Y-2000)

 

500,000 children are in foster care in the United States and Canada;

70,000 "special needs" children are available for adoption.

              -Brochure of NACAC, St. Paul, MN

 

442,218 children in the U.S. were in foster care in 1996;

461,163 children were in foster care at end of fiscal 9/30/94;

  71,000 children from public agencies had a permanency plan

               of adoption, fiscal year 1992;

  86,000 children had a permanency plan of adoption, end of FY'93;

  18,000 adoptions were finalized in 1992;

  17,000 children resided in non-finalized adoptive homes in 1992;

   21,000 children who were legally freed for adoption were

               still awaiting a permanent family in 1992;

30,000 children were not legally freed for adoption in 1992;

              -National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, Fairfax, VA

                -fiscal 7/96 stats reported to NAIC,  in

                "Characteristics of Children in Substitute and Adoptive Care"

                 Voluntary Cooperative Information System (VCIS) of

                 the American Human Services Assn. (APHSA), Wash., DC.

                 69,000 "adoptable" children are in foster care in the U.S.

                 20,000 of the 69,000) are legally freed for adoption.

                    -Adoption Factbook, National Council For Adoption, 12-90

 

75% of all children in foster care have experienced some form of sexual abuse.

           -Adoption and Sexually Abused Children, edited by Joan and

            Bernard McNamara, University of Maine, Portland, 1990, p.160.

 

50-75% of all children initially placed in foster care eventually

            were returned to their parents;

69,000 children were determined "adoptable" in 1990;

44% (of the 69,000) were White;

43% (of the 69,000) were African American;

  7% (of the 69,000) were Hispanic;

  4% (of the 69,000) were under age 1;

36% (of the 69,000) were between ages 1 and 5;

43% (of the 69,000) were between ages 6 and 12;

17% (of the 69,000) were over age 12;

   7.4 years was the median age;

2 out of 3 waiting children in 1990 had special needs:

        medical, developmental, behavioral, psychological;

46% of waiting children (end of 1990) had been waiting 2 years;

30% increase in adoption subsidies was granted to public

         and private agencies to facilitate adoptions of minority and

         "special needs" children under the Clinton Administration.

         -Adoption Fact Sheet, Office for Civil Rights, Health and

           Human Services (HHS) home page:

            http://www.hhs.gov/prog.org/oct/adoption.html ,

             (on OCR home page April 1995, mhaynes@os.dhhs.gov )

 

1-million children will languish in foster care by 1995;

67% of foster children awaiting adoption placement are Black or Black/White;

52% have some emotional problems;

32% have some degree of learning disability;

71% of Whites have more emotional disabilities than Blacks;

67% are male;

42% are members of sibling groups;

10.2 years is the average age of Black children;

12.6 years is the average age of White children;

5-12 years of age is the largest group;

54% under age 11 are Black;

31% under age 11 are White.

         -The National Adoption Center (as of 3-22-91), and

           "Adoption Crisis: The Truth Behind Adoption and Foster Care"

            by Carole A. McKelvey and Dr. JoEllen Stevens, c. 1994

 

494,000 children were in foster care at the end of 1995;

468,000 children were in foster care at the end of 1994;

400,000 children were in foster care at end of 1990;

280,000 children were in foster care at end of 1986;

200,000 children were in foster care at end of 1982.

 

88% of children in foster care at end of 1990 had no

          relinquishment or termination of parental rights;

12% of children had parental rights relinquished of terminated;

60% of the 12% had permanency goal of family reunification;

15% of the 12% had a permanency goal of adoption;

12% of the 12% had a goal of long-term foster care;

5% of the 12% had a goal of independent living;

2% of the