International Adoption Delays

Hi Chrysanthemumrose, I'll try to answer your question as I see it hasn't been answered by others. The truth is there are not millions of children waiting to be adopted. There are certainly millions of children in need but most are not available for adoption. They may live in countries that do not allow intercountry adoption, they may be placed in orphanages as a temporary means of childcare for families in times of stress or they do not fit the profile of children easily placed for adoption because they are older and/or have special needs. The often quoted figure of 143 (or 132) million orphans worldwide is discussed at [url=http://www.unicef.org/media/media_45279.html]UNICEF - Press centre - Orphans[/url] If this number is pulled apart, it reveals that 95% are over 5 years of age and only 13 million children have lost both parents (what most of us think of as an orphan). That means, worldwide there are approx. 650,000 children under 5 years old who are without living parents. A huge number but not in the millions, and many of these children would be living with relatives. The number of healthy children aged 0 - 2 years is considerably lower. Currently, it appears there are more applicants to adopt healthy younger children in all countries, than there are children available - so waiting lists have lengthened into years. The number of children being adopted worldwide appears to have plummeted in the past year or two, but if you look back over the past 10 years, the number more than doubled in the five years to 2004. In this context, the waiting times, though very difficult on prospective adoptive parents, are hopefully easier to understand.