Who wants to adopt and who wants to be adopted: a sample of American families and sub-Saharan African orphans

Abstract

The debate between pro- and anti-international adoption advocates relies heavily on rhetoric and little on data analysis. To better understand the state of orphans and potential adopters in this debate, we utilize the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) and the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to study who adopts internationally and the status of orphaned children in sub-Saharan Africa. According to NSFG data adopters are church going, highly educated, stable families aware of the challenges faced by international adoption, with high rates of infertility and rates of child abuse half the population average. According to the DHS data, orphans in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from significantly higher deprivation, reduced schooling and increased levels of stunting and underweight reported than their cohort. Using this data, we estimate conservatively that that 1 50 000 orphans from our sample of sub-Saharan African countries died from their 5-year birth cohort. Given the large number of families seeking to adopt and the high number of orphan deaths, it seems counterproductive to restrict international adoptions given the significantly lower risks faced by children in adopted families compared with remaining orphaned.

Social scaffolding of human amygdala-mPFCcircuit development

“…Families that adopt internationally are, in research terms, a special group of families; because international adoption often requires that parents travel to the country of adoption and stay for some extended time, the families typically have the financial means to adopt internationally. They tend to be a highly educated group of parents (Balding, Feng, & Atashband, 2015; Hellerstedt et al, 2008); and most importantly for child outcome, they clearly have a great desire to provide care since international adoption requires significant effort. It is this desire to provide care that has been most closely linked to optimal child outcomes (Hodges & Tizard, 1989).…”

It takes a village: How organizational support for adoption positively affects employees and their families

“…However, knowing that an increasing number of organizations make it a priority to invest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, organizations could consider investing in supportive environments for adoption as an alternative, innovative type of CSR. Doing so would certainly provide a benefit to society as there are still over 100,000 children in the United States waiting for an adoptive family (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2017) and millions of children worldwide who are growing up without parents (Balding, Feng, & Atashband, 2015). In a way that might be different from other types of CSR initiatives, OSFA could provide social benefits outside of the organization (e.g., helping reduce the number of children needing to be adopted) and tangibly benefit the lives of employees and their families.…”

Intercountry adoption of children with complex health conditions and disabilities: A systematic review

“…Inadequate nutrition was also suggested to be one of the reasons some children who were ICA had delayed growth for age, as indicated by their height (Fuglestad et al, 2016). Balding et al (2015) studied orphaned and vulnerable children in sub-Saharan Africa and determined that 50% of these children were underweight due to lack of resources to meet basic needs. Fortunately, after adoption, these children were able to completely catch up to their peers in height and weight, showing that nutritional deficiencies are reversible.…”

“…It may not be the health care costs, but rather the adoption costs to acquire the child from another country, that are most concerning for adopting parents. There was discussion of the corruption of ICA with agents increasing costs or adding fees while the adopting parents feel powerless to complain or refuse since they desire the child (Balding et al, 2015). In the United States, the health care costs of children who are ICA are covered by both public and private insurers.…”

“…Nutritional status in children who are ICA demonstrated dramatic improvement once nutritionally appropriate meals are available (Balding et al, 2015). However, significant nutritional deprivation in early childhood has a long-term impact on adoptees' health, even after adoption.…”