40 adoptive families for every "adoptable infant"?

I've heard this statistic quoted on many adoption-related forums as well as on here that there are 40 prospective adoptive parents for every baby placed for adoption in the U.S., however, I haven't been able to find any reliable source for this statistic or how it was formulated. Does any one know where this came from?

I'm also wondering who these "40 couples for every one baby" are supose to be. Does this mean couples who are certified to adopt, and waiting to be matched with an healthy infant domestically, or people who say they would be interested in adopting a baby but many have never started the process, or simply contacted the agency for information on adoption, or is it ALL prospective adoptive parents including those who will end up adopting from fostercare or internationally?

If anyone has a link to where info on this can be found, I'd be interested in reading it.- Thanks

mommy2squee

Well start out with the fact that that "adoptable infant" is not just any baby. That "adoptable infant" that has 40 couples vying for it has to be completely healthy, has both parents already TPR'd and most importantly, it is WHITE. When you add all of those conditions in, the number of "adoptable infants" drops drastically.

The adoptive parents vying for that one baby includes all parents even thinking about adoption.

Jennifer L

I've heard that statistic (and similar ones) tossed around, but I don't ever remember seeing it backed up with a qualifiable source.

BLW_KAM

Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to your question.

But my curiosity was peeked so I did a little research on the agency we used 10 years ago. Here are their stats for Nov. 2007 - Nov 2008:

Families Who are Not Yet Licensed: 54
Families Who are Licensed and Waiting: 118
Children Placed in Adoptive Homes: 99

so ...

For all potential adoptive parents the ratio is 2.74 to 1
For licensed adoptive parents the ratio is 2.19 to 1

40 to 1 seems high to me, but without authoritative sources, there's no way of knowing how accurate the figure is.

ETA: Interesting comment below. The reason the ratio is so low is easy to explain. It's difficult to get approved at the agency we used. Their pre-approval process is extensive and exhausting, 85% of the people who go to the first info. meeting don't make it through the process. Fewer approved potential parents means a lower ratio. Ethics is one of the reason we went through them.

Corn is not dog food! No wheat!

Well, I don't know if this is "qualifi-able", but my friends did private, closed adoption where they had to make a scrapbook type page with a picture and short "bio" of themselves for the expectant mothers to look at and pick from..

When they handed it in, it was put on a shelf with others, like in a library. My friends said there was over 40 of such binders on that shelf.

So figure, over 40 binders means over 40 people looking to adopt every baby that comes in the adoption agency's door...

Sounds about right to me.

grapesgum

I think that the ratio is highly dependent on the source. For aggressive, unethical adoption agencies, it is probably a lot lower. For adoption agencies that present all options without bias toward lining their pockets, the ratio is probably much higher.

I would be highly suspicious of the so-called "ethics" of any adoption agency and adoptive parent who claimed their adoption was ethical when at the same time that they quote a low ratio.

Independ"ant"

I've read its double that due to women waiting too late to have children today and more young girls deciding to parent or getting more support. When I get bored I'll browse for the articles I've seen and email it.

I think the mass amts of people searching in foreign countries for the youngest healthiest child that they can get says alot in and of itself.

What's the wait for a baby from China up to now...6yrs because of so many Paps waiting for a one.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: