Help with some statistics about Domestic Newborn Adoption...?

Question

So, I need some help with my Social Psychology research paper. I wanted to write about domestic newborn adoption since adoption itself is too broad a topic. I'm not having problems with the opinion side of the paper but I'm either looking in the wrong places or I'm using the wrong wording to search for research on statistics/laws/etc. I've been able to find a few pertinent links but two specifics areas that I can't find information about are:

A) How many domestic newborn adoptions take place annually in the United States? Being that many people use a private agency, it might be difficult to find this number. But some statistic with an approximation would be helpful.

B) How long is the window of opportunity for birthmothers to reclaim their baby after birth? I've been able to find a few states individually but does anyone have a link to a list or a table with all of the information in one place?

I'd really appreciate any information/links you guys can provide me. Thank you in advance

Answer 1

A) I remember reading about 15,000. The source of that was the Evan B Donaldson Adoption Institute http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/index.p...

B) Scroll down to Apprendix III on this page for consent and revocation (not sure how current it is) http://www.adoptions.com/aecindependent....

Answer 2

Don't know how reputable this source is, but it is a relatively new article....stating that 22,000 newborns were adopted domestically in 2002. http://www.exploringadoptionblog.com/ado...

To your second question:

The ending of the parental rights, called the termination, surrender or relinquishment, is different in every state.  However, in every state, any document regarding the ending of the birth mother's parental rights that was signed before the baby has been born is not legally binding.  After the baby has been born some state allow a birth mother to voluntarily end her rights immediately after the birth and other states allow the ending of these rights only after the passage of 1-3 days, or 15-21 days, 30 days, or more. Depending on the age of the birth mother and the circumstances involved, some states even require a birth mother to appear in court before her parental rights can be ended.   Again, every state is different.

Here is more info, and a state by state legal guide to reclaiming a child: http://adoptionservices.org/birth_mother...

Answer 3

I'm not sure if you could find national stats on this but I'm sure you can find State stats since the adoptions themselves are all done at the State level.  If you really need national stats then you may have to collect it yourself from the States and add OR use older stats that have already been compiled.  Try emailing your local Children's Aid to see what they suggest but I would think your local State stats bureau should have something.

As to your B question, sorry, no idea.