Adoption Research and Information
WHY DO WE ADOPT
Page One
LEGAL STUFF Written text Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Jean Marie Wilson Cannot be reprinted without permission. Must be referenced in all documents
Table of Contents:
Summary (HOME)
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
INTRODUCTION
Definitions
Adoption: "The act of establishing as parent to one who is not in fact or in law his child" (1).
Birth Parents: Biological parents "of the child involved in adoption" (28).
Public Agency
Adoption: Adoption "through a city, county, or state department of social services…less expensive…waiting list may be long" (70). "Placements by licensed public adoption agency of children who have been relinquished by their biological parents to the agency" (74).
Private Agency
Adoption: Adoption accomplished through an agency that may have "more restrictions;" may only do specialized adoptions; may have "hefty fees" (70). "Placements by a licensed private adoption agency of children who have been relinquished by their biological parents to the agency" (74).
Independent
Adoption: "Adoption arranged through physicians or lawyers to secure a child" (70). "Placements in which the biological parents place a child directly with an adopting family or persons of their choice" (77). Independent adoption is not legal in six states (60).
Transracial
Adoption: "Adoption of children by parents who are of a different race…usual transracial adoptions involve white parents adopting black, hispanic, or Native-American children" (28).
Open Adoption: "Adoptive and birth parents meet and share information" (70).
Closed Adoption: "The adoptive arrangement is…confidential" (70).
Intercountry/
International
Adoption: "Adoption of children from…Asian, Latin American countries by U.S. parents" (70) and from Europe, Australia, and North America (17). "Adoption of foreign born children through licensed adoption agencies" (74).
Special Needs
Adoption: Adoption of children who are "older children" (over age six), adolescents, handicapped children, members of sibling groups that must be placed together; children of minority or biracial heritage; HIV positive or living with AIDS; were born crack cocaine (or other drug) addicted; have an emotional or behavioral disorder; that have any condition which might cause the child to become dependent on public resources; or children with other chronic medical conditions (24, 26, 55, 62, 69). This definition is also used in Great Britain (43).
P. L. 96-272: The Adoption Assistance Act of 1980 in part mandated child welfare workers "to provide effective and timely permanency planning" for children in foster care." It also defined special needs children (26), and provided for adoption subsidies, and continuation of Medicaid benefits when special needs children are adopted (44).
Homestudy: Usually includes "home visits by the agency; individual interviews between the agency and the prospective adoptive parents…the preparation of autobiographical statements by the adoptive parents…" (27).
History
Adoption is mentioned in the Bible, when Moses is adopted by Pharoah's daughter
(Exodus 2:1-10); and when Esther is adopted by her cousin, Mordecai (Esther 2:7). In
Greece, the person adopted was usually male, and was adopted as an adult to carry on the
(adoptive) family name. If the boy was adopted as a minor, it was hoped by his birth
parents that their son would then have a higher social position (1).
In 1851, Massachusetts passed the first adoption statute in the United States. However,
in the 1800's, adoption was usually viewed as a way for adults to gain "heirs or indentured servants." This view eventually gave "way to the current treatment of adoptive children as biological children" (22).
Meanwhile, between 1853 and 1929, various orphanages in the northeastern United States, and the charities that supported them, were faced with a problem: what to do with all the abandoned and orphaned children left in their care. In 1855, Charles Loring Brace, saw a way to fill a need by making "use…of the endless demand for children's labor in the Western country." So, children were loaded on trains heading west. At each stop, people would come and inspect the children; then pick the ones they wanted (32).
No homestudies were done (32). Michigan was the first state to require homestudies, in 1881 (22). No attempt was made to match children's needs with parents who could meet those needs. No attempt was made to keep sibling groups together. Some children were treated as biological children in their new families. Most, however, were treated as servants (32).
Over 200,000 children were placed this way over the 75 or 80 years the Orphan Trains ran. The Children's Aid Society of New York was one of the better known agencies involved in this practice. "Placing out," as this was called, ended for many reasons, including the fact that many of these children were not truly orphans. They had at least one living parent. They had been placed in the orphanage, because the parent(s) could not afford to care for them, or was too ill to care for them (32).
In addition, America became more urban, including the Midwest. There were not as many farms that needed child labor. Also, the Midwestern cities began to have the same problems as the Eastern cities, including abandoned children in orphanages. In 1889, the Jane Adams-Hull house began to offer foster care to the children of "ill or destitute parents." The concept of foster care spread (32).
In 1896, social work became a specialty in post-secondary schools. The year 1916 was when child labor laws went into effect (32). And, in 1923, the Supreme Court ruled that "the 14th Amendment protects a parent's right to bring up a child," thereby giving "primacy to the rights of natural parents" (22). All of these reasons contributed to the end of the Orphan Trains.
The 1960's and 1970's brought "legalization of abortion and increased acceptance of unwed motherhood" which reduced "the number of healthy, white infants available for adoption." Therefore, parents began to turn their attention to international and special needs adoption (22). And, adoption agencies began a "permanency planning movement…for foster care children…the passage of…the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act in 1980 helped bring national attention, support, and financial aid to the adoption of special needs children" (66). Independent adoptions were also increasing, as well as international adoptions, again due to the shortage of healthy, white infants (32).
Demographics
Demographic information on adoption was collected by the federal government "periodically between 1944 and 1957, then annually from 1957 to 1975." Data since then are reported voluntarily by the states (64). Therefore, there are no comprehensive data available. The following information is "bits and pieces" culled from my research.
Adoptive Parents
In a study published in 1933, of parents who adopted between 1918 and 1925, the mothers' average age was 38.5 years. In families that adopted babies, the fathers tended to be in business management positions. Those who adopted older children were usually farmers. Twenty-eight percent of the mothers and 32.1% of the fathers had completed college; overall 72% of the parents completed at least eighth grade, but four of them had never attended school. The couples were married an average of ten years (39).
Proch (52) studied adoptive parents of children adopted out of foster care. The mothers' average age was 49 years; the fathers' was 51 years. This was at the time of the study, and the children had been in the home an average of 4.8 years. Two-thirds of the parents worked in semi-skilled or blue-collar jobs. Forty-two percent of the mothers and 35% of the fathers did not graduate high school.
Proch's study (52) was conducted in 1979, as was Coyne's And Brown's (13). The average age of Coyne's and Brown's adoptive parents was 36 years. Those parents had adopted developmentally delayed children.
Tremitiere (66) focussed on large adoptive families of special needs children, formed in the late 1970's and early 1980's. The fathers were employed as professionals- i.e. doctors, teachers, clergy (40%); skilled workers (20%); in sales (10%); in their own businesses (5%); and in other occupations (25%). The mothers' occupations included: professionals (20%); unskilled jobs (20%); other (20%); and homemakers (40%).
Goetting and Goetting (23, 24) studied parents of special needs children in 1988. The adoptive parents of developmentally delayed children were 44.4 years (median age) and married an average of 18.5 years at the time of the study (23). Parents of multi-handicapped children were 49.4 years (median age) and married an average of 26.8 years (24). Sixty percent of the parents of handicapped children had some formal education beyond high school (24), as did 75% of the parents that adopted developmentally delayed children (23).
Marx's (45) adoptive families of special needs children were blue collar. The average age of the mothers was 40-41 and the fathers, 41-42.
In her study of adoption trends in California in fiscal year 1981-1982, Wingard's (74) adoptive mothers were an average age of 33 years for private agency adopters, and 34 years for public agency adopters. The adoptive fathers were 34 and 36 years, respectively. The adoptive parents in Prater's and King's study (51), conducted in 1985, were, on average, 43 years old at the time of the study (however, the children had been in the homes a mean of nine years). Most of the children were adopted prior to age one year, with all of them placed by five years of age.
An Israeli study (40) in 1991 of adoptive parents of infants found the mothers' average age was 34.4 years and the fathers', 34.4 years. The parents had been married a mean of 11.3 years. Forty-eight percent of the mothers and 26.7% of the fathers had 13 or more years of school.
Koepke, et.al. (37) studied adoptive mothers of infants. These women's average age was 31 years, and their husbands', 32. This was in 1991.
Growing Up Adopted (9) is a study of adoptive families that included children who were placed before the age of 15 months. This research, sponsored by the Search Institute, found the incomes of the families were over $50,000 annually (54%), and the parents were at least college graduates (43% of the mothers and 56% of the fathers). The study was conducted in 1992 and 1993, when the adoptees were adolescents.
Single adoptive parents were the focus of Shireman's and Johnson's longitudinal research (61). This was an eight year study, concluded in 1980, of children who were placed for adoption between June, 1970 and June, 1972. One-third of the parents were in professional or technical occupations, but their "incomes tended to be low." Rosenthal, et. al. (55) found adoptive families of handicapped children also tended to have lower incomes than other adoptive families.
Type of Adoption
In California, in fiscal year 1968-1969, 19% of all adoptions were private agency adoptions; 52% were public agency adoptions; and 28% were independent adoptions. By fiscal year 1981-1982, 10% were private agency; 37% were public agency; and 47% were independent adoptions. Of single adopters, one percent adopted through private agencies, and 10% public agencies (fiscal year 1981-1982). In 1968-1969, one percent of California's adoptions were international adoptions. By fiscal year, 1981-1982, they were six percent of the total (74).
Coyne and Brown (13) studied 13 adoption agencies that placed developmentally delayed children. Seven were private agencies, and six were public agencies. Single parents constituted 19% overall of the adopters in their sample, with 24% adopting through public agencies, and 16% through private agencies. This study was conducted in 1979.
Stolley (64) differentiated between related adoptions (i.e. adoptions by step parents, grandparents, etc.) and unrelated adoptions. Of unrelated adoptions, 29.4% were through private agencies; 31.4% were independent adoptions; 26.5% were special needs adoptions; and 48.1% were infant adoptions. International adoptions were 16.4% of the total, and domestic adoptions, 39.2%. She studied adoption in the United States in 1986, by combining information states voluntarily reported, as well as court records.
Of adoptions by single parents in 1975, Flango and Flango (20) estimated the rate was 2.5%. By 1989, it was 5% and in 1991, 12% (both figures were based on adoptions in Oregon). They estimated the rate of single adoptions was 25% in 1995.
Proch's (52) study, conducted in 1979, was of children adopted out of foster care, through a public agency. Eighty percent of the children were of minority heritage; 66% were over age six at the time of placement. Twenty-nine percent had a chronic physical or psychological condition and 10% were part of a sibling group placed together. Twenty-five percent of the adopters were single females, and 5% were single males.
In Goetting's and Goetting's (23, 24) studies, the children were either developmentally delayed (23) or developmentally delayed and physically challenged(24). Thirty-three percent of the adoptive parents of multi-handicapped children were single at the time of the adoption (24); 25% of the adopters of developmentally delayed children were also single (23). In Shireman's and Johnson's (61) longitudinal study, all of the parents were single at the time of the adoption. Eight years later, at the conclusion of the study, only three of the 25 parents studied had married.
Groze (25) found 11% of his adoptive families were formed through transracial adoption. Benson et. al. (9) had a rate of transracial adoption in their study of 33%. Tremitiere's (66) large adoptive families described themselves as: "mostly Caucasian" (44%); "mostly Black" (6%); mostly Hispanic" (4%); or "other" (28%). "Mostly" meant "50% or more." Her families were also "special needs," with children with: physical problems (14%); retardation (4%); mental illness (2%); emotional problems (52%); and other (4%). Only 24% of the children had no reported problems. The figures total over 100%, because some children had more than one problem.
International Adoption and Country of Origin
Total international adoptions in 1986 were 9945. In 1987, there were 10,097 international adoptions. In 1988, the number went down to 9120, and went lower in 1989 to 7948, and 7088 in 1990. The number rose in 1991 to 9008, the year of adoptions of Romanian children , with 2594 Romanian children adopted by U.S. citizens that year. The number of international adoptions again decreased in 1992 to 6352. Since then, adoptions from the former Soviet Union and from mainland China have increased the number of international adoptions by Americans to 11,340 in 1996 (17).
Korea used to be the country for international adoption for American couples. There were 6188 children adopted from Korea in 1986. That number has declined to just 1516 in 1996. There were no adoptions of Russian children by Americans until 1994, with 1530 that year. By 1996, that number rose to 2454. China has always provided some children (from Hong Kong and Taiwan), with ten children coming to the United States in 1986. That number gradually increased to 28 in 1990; more than doubled in 1991 to 62; then more than tripled in 1992 to 201. By 1993, Americans had adopted 330 Chinese children, and by 1994, 748. 1995 brought 2130 Chinese children to the United States through adoption, and 1996 brought 3333 (17).
Americans also adopt, at a lesser rate, from Vietnam, the Phillipines, and India. Adoptions from Romania slowed to 121 in 1992; then to 97 in 1993; and then have risen steadily to 555 in 1996. Americans also adopt from Bulgaria, Guatemala, Colombia, Paraguay, and Brazil, among other countries (17).
Age of Child at Placement
In Leahy's (39) study of infants placed between 1918 and 1925 found a median age of placement of 8.10 months. Eighty-nine percent of the adopters had no other children in the home, and more girls than boys were placed. In the study of Israeli adoptive parents (40), the children were between three and fourteen days old when placed. None of the parents had other children. In Prater's and King's (51) sample of African-American families, 75% had adopted their children as infants, and 25% had adopted children between the ages of one and five years. Seven of the children were female, and seven were males. Twenty-five percent of the families had biological children, and two families adopted two children each. Benson et. al. (9) studied families who adopted children who were 15 months or younger at placement. Forty-four percent of the adoptees were male, and 56% were female. In their study of single adopters (61), Shireman and Johnson found all the children were less than three years old at placement, with most under a year.
Proch's (52) study of foster parents who adopted showed that two-thirds of the children were less than two years old when they were placed as foster children. Forty-five percent were under age one year at placement. Wingard's (71) data on California adoptions indicated children placed by private agencies were, on average, three months old; but children placed by public agencies were 48 months old at placement. Rosenthal, et. al. (55) also found handicapped children to be 4.2 years, average, at placement; and non-handicapped children to be 5.9 years. Goetting and Goetting found averages ages at adoption to be 4.2 years (23), and 7.4 years (24) in their two studies of special needs adoption, while Groze's (25) average age was 6.1 years for adopted children now in clinical settings, and 5.2 years for his comparison group. Again, all ages were age at placement.
Goetting's and Goetting's (23, 24) families had birth children (approximately two-thirds in each study), while 43% had other adopted children. Coyne's and Brown's (13) families also had other children (77%) when they adopted their child out of foster care. Forty-five percent of Bachrach's (6) families did not have other children, when they adopted, but 71% of Marx's did. Of Tremitiere's (66) large adoptive families, 52% of the families had six to seven children; 40% had eight to ten children; and 8% had 11 or more. With "mostly" again meaning "50% or more," these families were: "mostly birth" (40%); "mostly adopted " (52%); and "mostly foster" (8%).
Based on the demographic information, adoptive parents tend to be in their 30's and 40's when they adopt. Education level and occupation vary. Adopters of infants tend not to have other children, but adopters of special needs children do. Children adopted out of foster care are usually elementary age, and can have a variety of physical and mental disorders. When looking at international adoption, it appears that, as long as Russia and China continue to allow Americans to adopt their children, the numbers of international adoptions will continue to rise.
Anecdotal Reasons Given for Adoption in Popular Literature
Newspapers and magazines occasionally print articles about adoption, and these articles frequently mention reasons why people chose to adopt. In addition, there are magazines and newsletters that are printed specifically for the adoption community, such as Roots & Wings, and Adoptive Families. They also include stories with reasons why people adopt.
Popular magazines
Popular magazines, Ladies Home Journal (73), Women's Day (63), CQ Researcher (22), Sports Illustrated (46), Readers Digest (47), and Time Magazine (59), printed articles (one each) on adoption between 1991 and 1996. A total of nine reasons for adopting were given in the six articles (the Sports Illustrated and Readers Digest articles were about the same family, one year apart, so their reasons were only counted once):
Reason Count Percent
Infertility 2 (18%)
Chose international because told too old to adopt domestically 2 (18%)
Always wanted many children 1 (9%)
Chose international due to shortage of healthy infants 1 (9%)
Child's foster parents 1 (9%)
Missed having contact with a child 1 (9%)
Chose independent to get healthy infant 1 (9%)
Felt "had" to adopt (i.e. always felt that way) 1 (9%)
Give other children a sibling 1 (9%)
Total 11 (99%)
Newspapers
Newspapers surveyed included the Frederick Post (one article, 15); the Washington Post (four articles, 30, 49, 57, 72); Baltimore Sun (three articles, 8, 34, 42); and the Washington Times (one article, 76). Eight reasons for adopting were given in these articles, printed between 1994 and 1996:
Reason Count Percent
Infertility 3 (25%)
"A way to add children to your family" 1 (8%)
Knew someone who was adopted/ had adopted 1 (8%)
"Just wanted to be a mom" 1 (8%)
To get children of specific sex 2 (17%)
Child's foster parent 1 (8%)
To help hurting children 2 (17%)
Chose international adoption because told too old by agencies specializing in domestic adoption 1 (8%)
Total 12 (99%)
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