America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011

Adoption

Because children develop best in the context of families, adoptive families are sought for children whose birth families cannot care for them. Adoption has long been and continues to be preferred over alternatives such as long term foster care or congregate care such as group homes, emergency shelters, and orphanages. Yet children who are adopted, particularly those adopted beyond the first months of life, experience disruptions in parenting that can have longstanding implications for their development and well-being. Even children adopted as infants face challenges with identity development and issues of loss and grief regarding birth parents. In addition, more than half (52 percent) of adopted children nationally have parents who think it likely that their adopted child was prenatally exposed to alcohol or other drugs, a figure that is several times higher than national statistics for alcohol and drug use during pregnancy.^{149, 150} Those adopted at older ages may also suffer consequences of maltreatment or deprivation and trauma in the months or years prior to the adoption. Adopted children are at elevated risk for physical disabilities, adjustment problems, externalizing behaviors, conduct disorders, and attachment disorders.¹⁵¹ Even so, most adopted children thrive, and most adoptive parents report both that they would make the same adoption decisions again and that their children also feel positive about their adoption.¹⁵²

This special feature provides data on adopted children, focusing on their number, their geographic distribution, and several indicators relevant to their well-being. The data for this section come from three nationally representative surveys. The American Community Survey is a large annual survey of the U.S. population, providing estimates of a variety of groups and their characteristics, including state-specific estimates. In 2007, the The National Survey of Children's Health surveyed households with a focal child age of 0–17 about their children's physical, emotional, and behavioral health and their experiences with the health care system. The National Survey of Adoptive Parents surveyed a subset of respondents to the children's health survey (those who reported that the focal child had been adopted) regarding their characteristics, needs, and adoption-specific experiences. Together, the data from these surveys provide a detailed look at adopted children.

Indicator Special1.A: Percentage of children ages 0–17 who are adopted by state, 2008

• As of 2008, approximately 2.5 percent of U.S. children joined their families through adoption, including adoptions from foster care, private domestic adoptions, international adoptions, and stepparent adoptions.¹⁵³
• The formation of families through adoption occurs throughout the nation. In 2008, the proportion of children in each state who were adopted ranged from 1.7 percent to 5.5 percent. In most states, the percentage of adopted children was near the national average of 2.5 percent.

The following pages depict sociodemographic characteristics of adopted children and adoptive parents and the prevalence of transracial adoption in states. Transracial adoption raises concerns about how the affected children feel about their racial and ethnic identity. In addition, differences between all children and adopted children by selected measures of well-being and also by the presence of moderate to severe health problems are shown across different types of adoptions.

Indicator Special1.B: Percentage of adopted children ages 0–17 by adoption type and age at adoption, 2007

• In 2007, approximately 1.8 million children lived with adoptive rather than biological parents. Their adoptions may have been arranged privately within the United States (38 percent of adoptions into households without a biological parent), or their adoptions have been made from foster care (37 percent) or from international sources (25 percent).
• More children adopted from foster care were adopted at older ages than were children adopted through other adoption types. Sixty-seven percent of international adoptions and 59 percent of private domestic adoptions occurred before the child was age 2, compared with only 28 percent of foster care adoptions.
• Adopted children, when compared with all children, were less likely to be White, non-Hispanic (37 vs. 56 percent) or Hispanic (15 vs. 22 percent) and were more likely to be Black, non-Hispanic (23 vs. 14 percent) or Asian, non-Hispanic (15 vs. 4 percent). However, adoptive parents were more likely than all adults to be White, non-Hispanic.¹⁵⁴ Overall, 73 percent of adoptive parents were White, compared with 67 percent among all adults.
• By adoption type, White, non-Hispanic parents made up 63 percent of those who adopted from foster care, 71 percent of those who adopted privately within the U.S., and 92 percent of those who adopted internationally.
• Family income varied by adoption type: 93 percent of children adopted internationally lived in families with incomes over 200 percent of the poverty level, compared with 53 percent of children adopted from foster care and 65 percent of children adopted privately within the United States.

Indicator Special1.C: Percentage of adopted children ages 0–17 who are of a different race than their adoptive parent by state, 2008

• Nationally, in 2008, 21.5 percent of adopted children were of a different race than their adoptive parent.¹⁵⁵ These are known as transracial adoptions. The prevalence of transracial adoption varied significantly among states, from 8.4 percent of adopted children in West Virginia to 42.5 percent of adopted children in Alaska.
• The percentage of adopted children in the South who were of a different race than their adoptive parent (17 percent) was lower than in the other regions (about 23 to 25 percent).
• Adopted children can be compared to all children in certain measures of well-being. In 2007, adopted children ages 0–5 were more likely to be read to every day than were all children in this age group (68 percent vs. 48 percent).
• Among adopted children, there were differences in measures of well-being by adoption type. Positive social behaviors were exhibited by 83 percent of children adopted from foster care, compared with 91 percent of children adopted privately within the United States. Ninety-four percent of children adopted from foster care were continuously insured throughout the year, compared with 88 percent of children adopted privately within the United States.

Indicator Special1.E: Percentage of children ages 3–17 with moderate to severe health problems by age, adoptive status, and adoption type, 2007

• In 2007, 29 percent of adopted children had moderate to severe health problems, compared with 12 percent of all children. Children who had been adopted from foster care had a higher percentage with one or more moderate to severe health problems than did children adopted from other sources. For instance, among 12- to 17-year olds, the age group with the highest prevalence of such problems, 45 percent of foster care adoptees had one or more moderate to severe health problems, compared with 29 percent of children adopted privately within the United States and 27 percent of children adopted internationally.
• The most common moderate to severe health problems experienced by adopted children were learning disabilities (experienced by 12 percent of all adopted children), Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder (12 percent), and behavior/ conduct problems (8 percent).

 SPECIAL1.A/C HTML Table, SPECIAL1.B HTML Table, SPECIAL1.D HTML Table, SPECIAL1.E HTML Table