Adoption 

• ~127,000 children are adopted each year by Americans (includes domestic and international adoption for years 2000 and 2001 as a basis)
• 15% of all American adoptions are inter-country
• 117,000 children in foster care in America are waiting to be adopted
• 46% of children adopted from foster care were 1-5 years old, 51% were male, 38% white, 66% adopted by married couples, 33% by single parents (1998)
• ~40% of all American adults (81.5M) have considered adopting a child
• 63% of all American adults have a very favorable opinion about adoption
• 64% have experienced adoption within their own families or among close friends
• 21,616 children from foreign countries were adopted by Americans in 2003, including: 6,895 from China, 5,209 from Russia, 2,328 from Guatemala, 1,790 from South Korea
• Sources/more info
  • http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/s_adopted/s_adopted.cfm
  • http://statistics.adoption.com/information/adoption-statistics-foster-care-1999.html
  • http://statistics.adoption.com/information/foster-care-statistics.html
  • http://www.americanadoptions.com/pregnant/adoption_stats
  • http://www.adopting.org/adoptions/recent-trends-in-international-adoption.html

• 34,294,000 in Africa
• 65,504,000 in Asia
• 8,166,000 in Latin America and Caribbean
• 1,500,000 in Afghanistan (est.)
• 573,000 in China (est., 2005)
• 650,000 in Russia (est.)
• Sources/more info
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan
  • Orphan statistics are hard to find and are estimates at best because some main characteristics of orphans are invisibility and, therefore, un-count-ability.  

• 510,000 children in foster care in America (2006)
• 49% in non-relative homes
• 57% were reunified with their family of origin
• 17% were adopted
• 41% were in foster care more than 1 year
• 10.2 – median age of a child in foster care in America
• 40% white, 32% black, 19% Hispanic
• 52% male, 48% female
• 117,000 children in foster care in America are waiting to be adopted
• Sources/more info
  • http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/foster.cfm
  • http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/
  • http://statistics.adoption.com/information/adoption-statistics-foster-care-1999.html