Us Adoption Statistics

Adoption USA is a chartbook published in 2007 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that thoroughly reported trends and statistics in U.S. domestic and international adoption. The data reported were primarily from the 2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents Project but were augmented by other national surveys.

The statistics deal with demographics of the adoption community as well as glimpses into the perceived well-being of adoptive families. There are comparative statistics supplied that pit statistics about biological children against adoptive children in areas such as contentment and intellectual ability. Other traditional family statistics, such as dynamics and community involvement, are also compared between adoptive and biological families.

According to the report, the gender distribution of adoptees is about half and half, although in international adoptions, the majority of adoptees are female. Adopted children are less likely to be engaged in school than non-adopted children, however well over half of adoptees report that they enjoy school. About 15 percent of adoptive parents feel their adoption experience and raising a child was harder than they thought it would be and only 3 percent said they definitely would not have made the same choice if given the chance.

Adoptive children are more likely than children living in a biological household to have disorders like ADHD and depression, even in those under 2 years of age.