Adoption can be a beautiful thing for couples or single mothers who want to have a child and are unable to for a variety of reasons and for couples or mothers who are unable to care for a child, but still want to bring it to term. For people looking into adoption, learning about adoption is one of the best ways to start understanding the process and what’s required. For birth mothers, learning about adoption can offer another option if they’re not ready to take care of a child. Foster families also often play a role in adopting children, even if the children weren’t meant to stay with them permanently. Adoption centers and adoption agencies can be great resources to turn to if you’re thinking about adopting. Interestingly enough, almost 40% of adoptions are private domestic adoptions, around 37% are adoptions through foster care, and the 25% remaining are international adoptions, although the latter might be what you hear about most.
Who’s Adopting and Why?
The US State Department reported that US families adopted over 7,000 children in 2012. Those who are looking into adoption and actively learning about adoption mostly tend to be married families (around 70%) and just under 23% are single females. A small minority of adoptions are to unmarried couples, single males, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, although that number is steadily ticking upwards. Around 90% of foster families adopted a child to give him or her a permanent and stable home, a little over 60% adopted to make their families bigger, and just under 40% adopted because of infertility. Under a quarter wanted to adopt a child to create a sibling for their current child.
Overall, adoption is a positive experience for both parent and child. Over 90% of kids who were adopted who are five years old and upwards have positive feelings about being adopted and over 80% of parent-child relationships are “warm and close.” Over 40% are “better than ever expected.” Over half of adopted children have dinner with their families at least six days a week and nearly three out of every four adopted children who are 0-5 are read to or sang to every single day. (Only half of non-adopted children get the same attention from their biological parents.) Perhaps some of this is due to the fact that adopted children are greatly wanted by their adoptive families — they’ve wanted a child and been unable to have one for a variety of factors. It’s a choice they’ve had a lot of time to think about during the often extensive adopting process and one they’ve chosen to commit to.
What About the Adopted Children? What Are Their Stories?
A little under half of all adopted children lived with their birth family for some period of time before being adopted. A little over 40% of adopted children are adopted by a family member and just under half of all adopted children are male. If a child is in foster care, he or she must usually wait around three years on average before becoming adopted (and this amount of time can often go up if they’re older). Over 30% have had to change elementary schools at least five times, which hurts their relationships and sense of stability, and often causes them to fall behind in school.
Why Should I Consider Adoption?
If you’re a birth mother, and thinking about adoption, know that it can be a beautiful way to give your child a new start in life with people who are emotionally ready and financially secure enough to give your baby what he or she needs. You don’t have to choose between an abortion or struggling to care for the child yourself. There may also be a chance that later on in the child’s life, you’ll be invited back into his or her life (if it’s not a closed adoption) be able to establish a connection with the life you brought forth.

Get in touch with an adoption agency if you’re a birth mother interested in giving your child up for adoption or a couple looking to adopt.