Is it true that more girls are adopted than boys?

Question

I have heard talk that more girls are adopted than boys, both internationally and domestically. I read in a magazine that most mothers who have 3+ boys and wanted a girl turn to adoption, so I thought that might be the cause but I don't really know.

Anyone have any facts or info on this?

Answer 1

Maybe they just want a change

Answer 2

YES... it is true

Answer 3

No but there are girls that THINK they've been adopted due to a psychological problem along the lines of multiple personality disorder which can make it look as though more girls are adopted...

Answer 4

Yes its true.Most girls I hear are chinese because prositute problems.They sneak there babys to an orfinage or they would be killed.And if you have a girl they will be killed.So mothers who have hearts put them in orfinages.(Thats spelled wrong lol) In China you can only have boys.Its sad.

One of my cousins is Chinese she was adopted.

Answer 5

That is probably true because statistically there are more females than males in the world.

Answer 6

Well not so much in america, but in other countries they are very worried about the family line, and that can only be carried by the son, so they give up their baby daughters for adoption and try for boys. That is what they do in China especially. My husband's aunt adopted two baby girls from China. They are limited on how many children they can have and only want sons to carry on their legacy. Its sad.

Answer 7

I can't rightly say if it's true or it isn't.

However, I do know more adopted females, than males.

And in the case of my own adoption, my birth mother had another child before me (a boy). She kept him, gave me up. So.. I'm guessing it probably is true.

By the way, even here in America, SOME people do put more value on their male children than female. I'm a prime example of that.

Answer 8

In the case of China - definitely.

Answer 9

From what I have read, if you exclude China where most of the children available for adoption are girls, then there is not a statistically significant difference between the number of boys and girls who are actually adopted.

However, for programs where gender preference is allowed, it seems that more potential adoptive parents REQUEST girls. And I am not sure why that is?

-- some say it's because the woman is often "driving" the adoption.

-- some say it's because when people think "international adoption" they immediately think of little Chinese girls

-- some people say it's because men are more willing to raise "another man's daughter" than "another man's son"

I do not know that you can pinpoint it to one reason... and I'm not sure any of those reasons are "good reasons."

Answer 10

It is true more girls are adopted then boys just like more kids that are two years or younger are more likely to be adopted then kids older then that age.  I am not sure why this is though.

Answer 11

I actually heard the opposite.  I heard that most people adopt boys so their family name can live on.

Answer 12

If one were to go by the figures at New trend: More girls than boys adopted the Central Voluntary Adoption and Resource Agency -- CEVARA -- the government licensed coordination body, then educated, upmarket and childless couples are largely opting for the girl child.

Official figures too point to the fact: In 2003 out of 285 babies given for adoption, 161 were females and 124 males.

Of the 46 Non Resident Indians that took up babies for adoption, 38 girl children were given out as compared to eight males.

However, those in the placement agencies say there is more to than what meets the eye.

The trend is so not because the obsession with the male child is over, but because there are no male children available for adoption.

"The primary approach of an average Indian couple to adoption is still the same even after so many years," says Himadri Dey, administrator for a placement agency in Jungpura, New Delhi.

"The first request we generally get during registration of adopting parents is 'can we have a male child?'" he says. "However with time and social activism this attitude has changed to quite an extent," he adds.

The wait for a male baby is long, sometimes even three to four years, as there are "simply very few male babies that come to the homes for adoption."

"This might be the main reason why female babies are given out faster than the male child," says Saroj Tripathi, adoption officer at the Indian Council for Child Welfare, a government licensed scrutinising agency for adoption procedures.

"In 2002-2003 of the 550 cases that we scrutinised and given the green signal to, approximately 300 were female babies," she says.

"Initially most parents come looking for a male child, but through our counselling sessions, we try to convince them to take up a female baby instead," Tripathi says.

What most professionals agree to in unison that over the last 10 years a section of "educated, wealthy and well informed childless couples opt voluntarily for female babies."

There are again those who just circumvent the entire process and approach private agencies and nursing homes directly, pay hefty sums to the parents or middlemen and take male babies home.

"While the central government has issued a circular recently strictly restricting the adoption of babies from private unlicenced agencies, there is a loophole in the Hindu Adoption and Maintainance Act that gives the right to adopting parents to directly approach the birth mother and if she so consents, proceed on adoption from her," says Laila Baig, Secretary, CEVARA.

The babies mostly come to the placement agencies through either the police, are left in the cradles that stand outside these agencies by single mothers who can't keep the child or are donated formally by the parents themselves who are too poor to support the child.

Dey says parents rarely give up a male child.

Often, after a string of many daughters, unwanted girl babies are left at the homes by the natural parents.

Adopting parents desperate for a child but unwilling to go through either the long wait or the procedures, "get admitted to the private nursing home at the same time that a woman would deliver, and then on would leave the place with her baby," case workers say.

While the Indian obsession with fair skin and sharp features have left many children waiting in these homes for years, field professionals say this is one prejudice that they can't seem to make adopting parents get rid of.

"Most people would not take a baby with a flat nose or chinky eyes. They insist on an HIV test and demand a fair skinned child," says Tripathi.

The same goes for handicapped children. "For the last 10 years we could rarely place a handicapped child with any decent families. No one wants a child with polio or Down's Syndrome or even a minor handicap like blindness in one eye or fingers missing," says Tripathi.

While most case workers are trying hard to bring up the awareness level into adopting parents, they say it is a long way to go before typical traditional Indian prejudices are entirely uprooted

Answer 13

NO.. That is not true.

Answer 14

I doubt it, I think it's just that there's more girls waiting to be adopted, esp in China

Answer 15

Honestly I think that depends on what country/state you are referring to. I think on average, girls are adopted more than boys because there are simply more girls in existence.

You can check this site for more information:

www.AdoptionCouncil.org  

Answer 16

i dnt have facts but its prolly is true only cuz alot of families would pefer a girl ( i'm not sayn im like tht or anyhting) but i would say its true in adoption!!!!

Answer 17

According to Evan B. Donaldson Institute (leading research org in adoption) there are about 64% girls vs 36% boys adopted each year internationally. There are more girls adopted in the US also - there are many theories about why this is so.  China (the largest sending country adoption program) has mostly, though not exclusively, girls available for adoption due to the one-child policy and a traditional preference for boys. Boy carry the family name and stay with their parent through-out their lives caring for sick or elderly parents while girls leave their family of origin when they marry and care for their husband's parents. Traditional gender roles in China also play a big part - men provide labor and work for the family while girls are not necessarily able to do hard labor (necessary for farms etc.).

One theory is that people, in general, prefer to have a biological son to carry the family name - but since a female may marry and change her name anyway - it matters less if she is biological and so families may be more willing to adopt a daughter and birth a son if possible.

Another common theory is that girls are easier to raise and have less behavioral issues and so may be seen as preferable in adoption. Boys have higher incidences of ADHD, attachment disorders and other undesirable factors and so perhaps some parents think to limit risk by only adopting a female.

Yet - another, based on statistics, is that there are simply more females born and so more available to be adopted.

The US foster care system usually has many more boys waiting for adoption than girls and so it may be that the idea that girls are easier and have fewer issues offers one possible explanation.  Perhaps women, usually the initiator of the adoption option, feel more adequate to the task of raising a female than a male... may feel unable to deal with a child who may someday out weigh and out-muscle and therefore be ungovernable etc.

Personally, all children who can function in a family deserve one regardless of his/her gender. I am Mom to two - one boy one girl both through International Adoption... love both, can't imagine life without either...