National Adoption Statistics

All About Adoption Consulting provides national adoption statistics on children waiting to be adopted nationwide.

Of the 532,454 children in foster care in 2002, approximately 129,262 were free for adoption.

Of the children waiting to be adopted from foster care as of September 2001, 45% were black non-Hispanic, 34% were white non-Hispanic, 12% were Hispanic, and 4% were of undetermined ethnicity.

In 2001, the median age of children waiting to be adopted was 8.3 years. Three percent of the children waiting to be adopted were younger than 1 year, 32% were 1-5, 32% were 6-10, 28% were 11-15, and 2% were 16-18.

The number of children adopted from foster care has increased in recent years: 28,000 in 1996, 31,000 in 1997, 37,000 in 1998, 46,000 in 1999, 51,000 in 2000, 50,000 in 2001 and 52,000 in 2002.

Of the children adopted from foster care in 2001, 59% were younger than age 1, 17% were 1-5, 34% were 6-10, 16% were 11-15, and 2% were 16-18.

Of the children adopted from foster care in 2001, 59% were adopted by their foster parents, 17% were adopted by a nonrelative, and 23% were adopted by a relative.

Of the children adopted from foster care in 2001, 51% waited more than one year from the time they became legally free for adoption until they were adopted.

The stakes for children in need of adoptive families is very high. In a study of children who had “aged out” of foster care, researchers found that within 12 to 18 months of turning 18 and leaving foster care, 27% of males and 10% of females were incarcerated, 50% were unemployed, 37% had not finished high school, 33% received public assistance, and 19% of females had given birth to children.