Adoption Facts

• According to a survey by the National Council for Adoption (NCFA) there were 55,706 unrelated adoptions (adoptions by people not related to the child adopted) of American children in 1992. (NCFA)
  
  
• A 1994 study completed by the Search Institute and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health compared adopted teens to other teens and found that adopted teens were well adjusted and secure. (NCFA)
  
  
• The same study also found that children adopted transracially showed no differences in terms of identity formation and self esteem, attachment to parents or psychological health. (NCFA)
  
  
• A 1982 study found that unmarried birth mothers who made adoption plans advanced further educationally, were more likely to subsequently marry, and were less likely to receive public assistance than birth mothers who chose to parent their child born out-of-wedlock. (Bachrach)
  
  
• Adopted children enjoy more socio-economic advantages than children who remain with their unmarried biological mothers – they are better educated, have older mothers, and they live in families with much higher incomes. (Bachrach, Marquis)
  
  
• Unmarried mothers who keep their children are more likely to repeat an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, are more likely to remain unmarried and to have children who experience out-of-wedlock pregnancy. (Battelle)
  
  
• Children reared by unmarried mothers are more often abused, (TIME Magazine) and have serious behavior problems. Infants reared by an inconsistent series of caretakers also have a high incidence of problems later on. (Newsweek)
  
  
• More than 70 percent of juveniles in state reform institutions are from fatherless homes. The lack of a father is more important than any other factor, including income, for predicting criminal behavior. (Whitehead)