Foster care adoption has the highest number of waiting children in the U.S. as well as the highest rate. Adoption Network’s statistics estimate that “on any given day, there are nearly 428,000 children in foster care in the United States…In 2015, over 670,000 children spent time in U.S. foster care.”
Adoption Network said, “[there are] over 400,000 children in foster care in the U.S., [and] 114,556 cannot be returned to their families and are waiting to be adopted. Among these children, males outnumber females, African American children are disproportionately represented, and over half are 6 years old or older…More than 60% of children in foster care spend two to five years in the system before being adopted. Almost 20% spend five or more years in foster care before being adopted. Some never get adopted.”
Rates in terms of dollars signs and timetables should not be the determining factor to not pursue adoption. In reality, these things, while being annoying to deal with, are things that are associated with bringing a precious child into your forever family. They are worth every obstacle that has to be faced.
