As CT previously noted, the number of international adoptions keeps falling to new lows, both in the United States and worldwide.
However, the State Department’s 2012 Report on Intercountry Adoption includes a number of other interesting stats on adoption trends. Here are five of our picks:
5) In spite of the fact that Mexico is one of the U.S.’s closest neighbors, American adoptions of Mexican children take the longest to finalize of any other nation measured–an average of 770 days. Meanwhile, adoptions from the Dominican Republic average 741 days, Indian adoptions take 606 days, and Chinese adoptions take 267 days. Families wanting a child as soon as possible could look into adopting from Panama, where the average number of days to completion is only 53.
4) Nearly 1 in 3 finalized, incoming adoptions last year were for Chinese children (2,697), and 1 in 5 were for Ethiopian children (1,568) despite a significant government crackdown. Together, these two countries account for nearly half of all international adoptions by Americans in 2012. (Russia, which recently announced its plan to ban American adoptions of Russian children, accounted for approximately 8 percent.)
3) The somewhat-prohibitive high costs of foreign adoption have been well documented. But financial barriers skyrocket when it comes to South Africa: The median fee to complete an adoption there is $160,217. That’s nearly $140,000 more than the median fee in second-ranked Hungary ($21,685). By comparison, adoptions appear to be the most affordable in Sri Lanka ($6,200) and Ecuador ($6,250).
2) In spite of the surge in evangelicalinterest for international children, the world doesn’t seem to feel the same way about American children. In 2012, less than 100 children emigrated from the U.S. in outgoing adoptions. Almost two-thirds of those children (64 out of 99) were from the state of Florida–and most of them went to Canada.
1) Florida not only allowed the most children to be adopted out of the state, but it also allowed the most incoming adoptions. Of America’s 8,668 foreign adoptions in 2012, 398 children were adopted into Florida families. By contrast, the state with the fewest foreign adoptions? Delaware, where only 7 children were adopted last year.
Browse the full report and pick your own stats.
CT previously reported in May 2012 that international adoptions have fallen to their lowest level in years, and noted how American evangelicals have responded by adopting other types of children. CT also recently noted the shift to open adoption.
