I was adopted, thankfully
In the USA, the number of children awaiting adoption dropped from 132,000 to 118,000 during the period 2000 to 2004. The numbers are dropping due to abortion (there is almost one for every two live births, according to this), the increased acceptance of single parenthood, and lower fertility rates.
Worldwide, it is estimated (in 2003) there were 42 million abortions, approximately.
How many adoptions are there, worldwide? And how many could there be? What is the demand, currently? How many prospective adoptive parents get turned away?
This adoption- blog I found, dated 7-13-07, sheds some interesting light. It says, for example, that there are 2.2 billion children (under 18) approximately in the world. Of these, 16 million are orphans. 7.7 million of those are in Africa, and of the African orphans, 60% were orphaned by AIDS.
He goes on to say the number of children adopted worldwide is only 250,000 per year. That doesn't quite measure up to the 42m abortions or 16m orphans (58m possible adoptions). Only 1.5% of the 16m orphans get adopted. So 98.5% don't.
The cost may be too prohibitive
International adoptions almost always end up costing over $10,000 (and sometimes double or triple that) between agency fees, homestudy fees, immigration fees and travel or escorting costs. Fees for domestic adoptions are often in the $10-20,000 range, with exceptions (sometimes) for special infants.
Born equal?
Many people only want healthy, white, newborn babies. This is a big part of the problem.
Question
I wonder how many people want to adopt, and if it meets or surpasses 58 million.
1 day ago
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