10 Adoption Facts You Should Know

Here are 10 facts about adoption you probably never knew.

Susan Kuligowski June 24, 2018

10 Adoption Facts You Should Know

1. The most common form of adoption in the U.S. and Canada is stepparent adoption.

2. Adoption laws differ from state to state. These laws govern everything from the adoption process, to placement practices, to search and reunion.

3. Adoption costs vary drastically between different modes of adoption. Location, agency costs, private attorney costs, foster care benefits, and international concerns such as travel or translation are all factors that affect the overall price of adoption. For more information, click here.

4. The home study isn’t designed to fail you, but rather to prevent failing the child they place with you. Their ultimate goal is to find families that will love and cherish these children with families that can provide the life that the child’s first mother envisioned.

5. Hauge Accreditation, also known as the Intercountry Adoption Act, is an international treaty put in place to protect children, biological families, and adoptive parents. Many strict regulations were put in place to prevent child trafficking in international adoptions. For more information on international adoption home study, click here.

6. Some adoptees fear that an interest in their birth family will make their adoptive parents feel displaced or insecure. For more information regarding search and reunion, click here.

7. The adoption world has seen a rise in children with special needs who are available for adoption.

8. Approximately 7.8 million children are being raised by family members who are not their birth parents. About 2.6 million grandparents report that they are raising their grandchildren in a brand-new form of family structure. Learn how the opioid crisis affected the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act.

9. Some things birth moms may consider while making their decision whether or not to choose adoption include financial stability, child care, parental involvement, home environment, plans, and what they want for their child’s future.

10. There are over 400,000 foster care children in the United States currently in the foster care system. Of these foster care children, more than 100,000 are waiting to be adopted into a forever family. That’s 100,000 foster care children who need the support, stability, and unconditional love a family can provide.