How many children a year get lost in the adoption sytem?

Question

How many children a year get lost in the adoption sytem?

Answer 1

On Wikipedia - they have a few figures listed under the 'Adoption' section

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoption

They are also listed for various years - but I'll repeat what they have there - including notes -

AUS - 443 - (2003-2004) - include known relative adoptions

UK - 3,800 - (2005) - children adopted from care only

USA - 127,000 - (2001)

I find the US figure absolutely staggering.

Especially when there are still so many children languishing in foster care.

Figures for foster care in the US (2005) -

over 311,000 children entered foster care.

only 51,500 adopted from foster care.

http://prairieguy.wordpress.com/2007/11/...

I would love to know a better resource for finding US figures - and break-ups of infant adoption from the US & overseas adoptions.

The Australian figure is accurate - as I've checked on the government stats website. Family preservation is of great importance now in AUS.

Again - I'm unsure about UK numbers.

Answer 2

I'm not sure what you mean either, but according to the U.S. Census bureau, there are 1.6 millionadopted children under 18 years old living in the U.S. About 13% of these were born in other countries.  This includes all adoptions so about half of these are relative adoptions which includes stepparent adoptions. There are over 110,000 "waiting" children in the U.S. -in foster care. Most are over 5 years old, many are special needs (which includes being part of a silbling group or a large range of abilities), and about half are children of color. If you are talking about adoption disruptions, overall adoptions disrupt at a rate of 12%. Special needs placements disrupt at a much higher rate-some estimate rates of up to 50%, but most think that it is around 35%. No single U.S. agency is responsible for keeping adoption statistics and the variables of what type of adoption or what constitutes special needs varies from state to state.

Answer 3

I'd love to see the numbers compared in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and NZ.

Anyone know?

Thanks, Heather.  North America really has screwed up values.  d**n.

Answer 4

In the USA? Approx 47,477 this year so far

Sunny

I think Australia has approx 400 a year

and the UK approx 140

OMG!  the figure for the UK I gave was from 2003 so in just 2 years the figure has skyrocketed (to Possum's figure from 2005)

This could be entirely due to the cash incentives social workers are getting for placing kids for adoption.  It was supposed to be an incentive to get kids out of foster care and into adoptive homes but it has gone horribly wrong - babies are being taken from mothers on false allegations and because the mother has post partum depression because infants are more adoptable and this way social workers can meet the targets and collect their bonuses.

It's messed up!

Answer 5

I'm not sure what you mean by "get lost".  Do you mean "are unable to find permanent homes" and bounce from family to family?  Do you mean they are adopted and "lost" to their birthfamilies (in a closed adoption)?  Or do you mean something entirely different?

Answer 6

I think you mean "How many children a year get lost in the foster care system?"  If so, I don't know the answer to that.  I would guess thousands, but even one is too many.

If you really mean the "adoption system," there are no statistics but I would bet that over 100,000 get lost every year because, once the adoption is final, there is rarely any follow-up.  Kids could be doing great, or they could be suffering badly.  No one bothers to find out.

Answer 7

Too many, and sadly, more would get lost if abortion was outlawed.  

Seems like a no win situation.