STATISTICS/OVERVIEW.  There are no comprehensive numbers on total adoptions in the U.S. each year or the number of specific types of adoptions other than child welfare and intercountry adoptions. Of the approximately 135,000 adoptions in the U.S. each year, close to 40% are adopted by stepparents and another 40% or so from the U.S. foster care system. Private infant and intercountry adoptions together make up the remainder and are much smaller numbers. According to the U.S. Census, 1 in 25 families with children have an adopted child – about half of these have both biological and adopted children.

Challenges in Tracking Adoption Statistics:

Who Cares about Adoption Data? We Do. National Center on State Courts. March, 2014:
http://www.ncsc.org/sitecore/content/microsites/future-trends-2013/home/Monthly-Trends-Articles/Adoption-Data.aspx

How Many Children Were Adopted in 2007 and 2008? Child Welfare Information Gateway. Sept., 2011.
https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/adopted0708.pdf

Adopted Children and Stepchildren: 2010. Population Characteristics. U.S. Census Bureau. April, 2014.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/p20-572.pdf

Knowing the Numbers: Accessing and Using Child Welfare Data. The First Focus State Policy Advocacy and Reform Center (SPARC), Sept., 2014.

Provides an overview of data sources that are useful to the child welfare community specifically and answers the following questions: What are the major data sources? What can I do with the data/what can they tell me? How do I access them?
http://childwelfaresparc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Knowing-the-Numbers.pdf

Child welfare adoptions climbed after the passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act in 1997, peaking at over 57,000 a year in 2009. They have remained above 50,000 each year since that time (AFCARS, 2014).

Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) Data on Child Welfare Outcomes: In FFY2013, 101,840 foster children were waiting to be adopted, and 50,608 were adopted that year. In addition 17,664 foster children exited care through guardianships (July, 2014 estimates).
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/research-data-technology/statistics-research/afcars

Intercountry adoptions peaked in 2004 at just under 23,000 and then began to decline—a pattern that exists worldwide. The most recent figure reported by the U.S. Department of State for 2013 was 7,092.

U.S. Department of State, Intercountry Adoption Statistics:
http://travel.state.gov/content/adoptionsabroad/en/about-us/statistics.html

Global Statistics:
Key Tables for Intercountry Adoption: Receiving States 2003-2012; States of Origin 2003-2011. Peter Selman (2013).
http://www.hcch.net/upload/2013selmanstats33.pdf

Private infant adoptions of voluntarily relinquished newborns have declined nine-fold since the early 1970s (National Survey of Family Growth). These adoptions are not consistently tracked but are estimated to be approximately 14,000 a year (Donaldson Adoption Institute, 2010, p. 8).

Data from the National Survey of Family Growth: Who Adopts? Characteristics of Women and Men Who Have Adopted Children. Jan., 2009 (includes findings on voluntary relinquishments of newborns)
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db12.pdf

Best Interests of the Child in Intercountry Adoption, by Nigel Cantwell, UNICEF Office of Research, 2014.
http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/712

Untangling the Web II: A Research Based Roadmap for Reform. Donaldson Adoption Institute, Dec., 2013.
http://adoptioninstitute.org/old/publications/2013_12_UntanglingtheWeb2.pdf

American Adoption Congress site on state legislation related to adopted persons’ access to original birth certificates:
http://www.americanadoptioncongress.org/state.php

For the Records II: An Examination of the History and Impact of Adult Adoptee Access to Original Birth Certificates. Donaldson Adoption Institute, July, 2010.
http://adoptioninstitute.org/old/publications/7_14_2010_ForTheRecordsII.pdf

A Family for Life: The Vital Need to Achieve Permanency for Children in Care: synthesizes the body of research on the benefits of a permanent family for children who cannot live with their original families, from the Donaldson Adoption Institute, 2013.
http://adoptioninstitute.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2013_04_FamilyForLife.pdf

AdoptUSKids: National photo listing service for foster children awaiting adoption across the United States, also containing resources for families and professionals.
http://www.adoptuskids.org/

American Academy of Adoption Attorneys: A national association of approximately 340 attorneys who practice, or have otherwise distinguished themselves, in the field of adoption law.
http://www.adoptionattorneys.org

American Adoption Congress: comprised of individuals, families and organizations, AAC is committed to adoption reform.
http://www.americanadoptioncongress.org/

Bastard Nation: An adoptee rights organization that advocates for the civil and human rights of adult citizens who were adopted as children, particularly in relation to their right to access their records. http://www.bastards.org/

Child Welfare League of America: A coalition of hundreds of private and public human service agencies serving children and families who are vulnerable since 1920.
http://www.cwla.org/

Concerned United Birthparents: “The only national organization focused on birthparents – their experiences, healing and wisdom – CUB serves all those affected by adoption and all who are concerned about adoption issues. Although our focus is on birthparents, long the forgotten people of the adoption community, we welcome adoptees, adoptive parents, and professionals. We find that we all have much to learn from each other and that sharing our feelings and experiences benefits all of us.”
http://www.cubirthparents.org/index.php

Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute: a non-profit organization that works to raise awareness about the needs of children without families and to remove policy barriers that hinder children from knowing the love and support a family provides.
http://www.ccainstitute.org/

Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption: a foster care adoption organization that helps connect waiting children in foster care with prospective adoptive families through a range of programs and resources, including Wendy’s Wonderful Kids and the annual TV show, Home for the Holidays.
https://www.davethomasfoundation.org/

Donaldson Adoption Institute: an independent and objective adoption research and policy organization that addresses the needs of all those touched by adoption – first/birth parents, adoptees and adoptive parents through research, education and advocacy.
http://adoptioninstitute.org/

North American Council on Adoptable Children: founded in 1974 by adoptive parents, NACAC is committed to meeting the needs of waiting children and the families who adopt them.
http://www.nacac.org/

U.S. Children’s Bureau: a governmental agency within the Administration for Children and Families, the Children’s Bureau, created in 1912, partners with federal, state, tribal and local agencies to improve the overall well-being of children and families.
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb

Voice for Adoption: VFA works closely with federal and state legislators, as well as other child welfare organizations, to make a difference in the lives of the children in foster care who are waiting to be adopted and the families who adopt children from foster care.
http://www.voice-for-adoption.org/

Child Welfare Information Gateway: This website sponsored by the U.S. Children’s Bureau provides many print and electronic publications and links to a range of research-based resources on child welfare and adoption issues for both professionals and the public.
https://www.childwelfare.gov/

National Survey of Adoptive Parents:
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/09/nsap/index.shtml

Chapin Hall Center for Children: a research center at the University of Chicago that produces policy-related research on child welfare and foster care.
http://www.chapinhall.org/

Donaldson Adoption Institute: an independent and objective adoption research and policy organization whose website contains research reports on a range of adoption topics.
http://adoptioninstitute.org/

Primary longitudinal studies related to adoption:
National Survey of Child & Adolescent Well-being
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/research/project/national-survey-of-child-and-adolescent-well-being-nscaw

Minnesota-Texas Adoption Research Project
http://www.psych.umass.edu/adoption/

Early Growth and Development Study
https://www.egdstudy.org/

National Survey of Family Growth
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/adoption.htm

Leiden Longitudinal Adoption Study
https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/25253

Intercountry adoptions peaked in 2004 at just under 23,000 and then began to decline—a pattern that exists worldwide. The most recent figure reported by the U.S. Department of State for 2013 was 7,092.

U.S. Department of State, Intercountry Adoption Statistics:
http://travel.state.gov/content/adoptionsabroad/en/about-us/statistics.html

Global Statistics:
Key Tables for Intercountry Adoption: Receiving States 2003-2012; States of Origin 2003-2011. Peter Selman (2013).
http://www.hcch.net/upload/2013selmanstats33.pdf

Intercountry Adoption from A to Z. U.S. Department of State, Office of Children’s Issues.
http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/aa/pdfs/Intercountry_Adoption_From_A_Z.pdf

The Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention) seeks to protect children and their families against the risks of illegal, irregular, premature or ill-prepared adoptions abroad.
http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=text.display&tid=45

The Adoption History Project. University of Oregon. Timeline, topics, readings.
http://pages.uoregon.edu/adoption/timeline.html

The following websites and organizations provide national resources:
Child Welfare Information Gateway:  This website sponsored by the U.S. Children’s Bureau provides many print and electronic publications and links to a range of resources on child welfare and adoption issues for both professionals and the public.
https://www.childwelfare.gov/

National Foster Care and Adoption Directory: The directory on the Gateway enables searching by state for specific types of agencies and programs as well as other resources such as birth family, adoptee, and parent support groups.
https://www.childwelfare.gov/nfcad/

AdoptUSKids: Contains a range of information and resources for child welfare professionals and those seeking to adopt primarily from foster care, including a directory of state foster care and adoption information, a photolisting service to match waiting children and prospective adoptive parents, resources for recruiting families, and others.
http://www.adoptuskids.org/

American Academy of Adoption Attorneys: A national association of approximately 340 attorneys who practice, or have otherwise distinguished themselves, in the field of adoption law.
http://www.adoptionattorneys.org

The Donaldson Adoption Institute is an independent and objective adoption research and policy organization that addresses the needs of those touched by adoption – first/birth parents, adopted individuals and adoptive parents. Its website contains research reports on a range of adoption topics.
http://adoptioninstitute.org/

North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) is committed to meeting the needs of waiting children and the families who adopt them.  Their website contains a range of resources, in particular an extensive website on adoption subsidies, including state profiles, fact sheets and a national summary of state adoption assistance programs.
http://www.nacac.org/adoptionsubsidy/adoptionsubsidy.html

Adoption Learning Partners offers an array of interactive e-learning courses for professionals, prospective and current adoptive parents, adopted individuals, and other family members.  They also offer live and recorded webinars by experts in the adoption field.
http://www.adoptionlearningpartners.org/

The Native American Children’s Alliance was formed in response to the need for tribal Child Advocacy Center development. NACA is committed to protecting Native children and eliminating children's physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse by providing awareness, training, and building partnerships.
http://nacalliance.org/

Gift of Adoption Fund mission is to inspire adoption by providing grants to qualified parents – giving children who need families a permanent home and a chance to thrive. 
http://www.giftofadoption.org/index.html

Tapestry Books:  good resource for books and DVDs about adoption, permanency, foster care.
http://www.tapestrybooks.com