Adoption in the United States
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In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...
is the process of creating a legal parent-child relationship between a child and a parent who was not automatically recognized as the child's parent at birth. Most adoptions in the US are adoptions by a
stepparent A stepfamily is a family where at least one parent has children that are not biologically related to their spouse. Either parent, or both, may have children from previous relationships or marriages. Two known classifications for stepfamilies i ...
. The second most common type is a ''
foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family mem ...
adoption''. In those cases, the child is unable to live with the birth family, and the government is overseeing the care and adoption of the child. ''
International adoption International adoption (also referred to as intercountry adoption or transnational adoption) is a type of adoption in which an individual or couple residing in one country becomes the legal and permanent parent(s) of a child who is a national of ...
s'' involve the adoption of a child who was born outside the United States. A ''private adoption'' is an adoption that was independently arranged without the involvement of a government agency. Between five and seven million Americans are adoptees. About 150,000 adoptions happen each year, including about 50,000 foster-care adoptions. While most adoptions involve
minor children In law, a minor is someone under a certain age, usually the age of majority, which demarcates an underage individual from legal adulthood. The age of majority depends upon jurisdiction and application, but it is commonly 18. ''Minor'' may also ...
(under the age of 18),
adult adoption Adult adoption is a form of adoption between two or more adults in order to transfer inheritance rights and/or filiation. Adult adoption may be done for various reasons including: to establish intestate inheritance rights; to formalize a ste ...
is also possible.


Types

Adoptions in the United States may be either domestic or from another country. Domestic adoptions can be arranged either through a state agency, an adoption agency, or independently.


By family members

In the United States, most adoptions involve a child being adopted by a person who is married to a birth parent, or by another existing relative. Adoption by a stepmother or stepfather is called a ''
stepparent adoption A stepfamily is a family where at least one parent has children that are not biologically related to their spouse. Either parent, or both, may have children from previous relationships or marriages. Two known classifications for stepfamilies i ...
''. If the child is adopted by a person who lives with, but is not married to, a birth parent, then it is called a ''second-parent adoption''. More broadly, these may be called '' known-child adoptions'', which includes adoption by family members, family friends, or other people previously known to the child. Generally, stepparent adoption requires consent from all living, legally recognized parents. The process usually terminates the rights of the
non-custodial parent A noncustodial parent is a parent who does not have physical custody of his or her minor child as the result of a court order. When the child lives with only one parent, in a sole custody arrangement, then the parent with which the child lives is t ...
. The parent whose rights are terminated will no longer need to pay
child support Child support (or child maintenance) is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child (or parent, caregiver, guardian) following the end of a marriage or other similar relationship. Child maintenance is paid d ...
or have any other responsibilities for the adopted child. In most, but not all US states, the child's right to inherit property after the death of the birth parent is also ended. Older children are normally expected to give their consent as well.


Through the foster care system

The United States
foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family mem ...
system enables adults to care for minor children who are not able to live with their biological parents. If a child in the U.S. governmental foster care system is not adopted or returned to the custody of their birth parents by the age of 18 years, they are aged out of the system on their 18th birthday. To help encourage the adoption of children presently in foster care, adoption exchanges were created, so the county adoption agencies around the country could have a central data base to help waiting children find homes. This allows prospective adoptive parents to not only see children waiting for adoption in their own region, but throughout the nation. The central adoption exchange i
adoptuskids.org
created through a grant of the Children's Bureau, U.S. Office of Administration of Children and Families.


International adoption

Prospective American adoptive parents may use
international adoption International adoption (also referred to as intercountry adoption or transnational adoption) is a type of adoption in which an individual or couple residing in one country becomes the legal and permanent parent(s) of a child who is a national of ...
(also called intercountry adoption) to adopt a child from another country. American citizens, including American citizens who have emigrated from countries they wish to adopt from, represent the majority of international adoptive parents, followed by
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
ans and those from other developed nations such as Australia. The laws of different countries vary in their willingness to allow international adoptions. Some countries, such as
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
and
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, have very well established rules and procedures for foreign adopters to follow, while others, the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
(UAE) for example, expressly forbid it. International adoptions by Americans became much more common after the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
when American servicemen fathered interracial children with Korean women. China is the leading country for international adoptions by Americans. The U.S. Department of State has designated the Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity, Inc. (IAAME), as the accrediting agency responsible for accreditation, approval, monitoring, and oversight of adoption service providers that provide intercountry adoption services in the United States. The IAAME maintains a list of accredited international adoption service providers.


Adoption Facilitators

There are also individuals who act on their own and attempt to match waiting children, both domestically and abroad, with prospective parents, and in foreign countries provide additional services such as
translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
and local
transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...
. They are commonly referred to as
facilitator A facilitator is a person who helps a group of people to work together better, understand their common objectives, and plan how to achieve these objectives, during meetings or discussions. In doing so, the facilitator remains "neutral", meaning t ...
s. Since in many
jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...
s their legal status is uncertain (and in some U.S. states they are banned outright), they operate in a legal gray area. Where the law does not specifically allow them to, all they can do is make an introduction, leaving the details of the placement to those legally qualified to do so. But in practice, their role as gatekeepers can give them a great deal of power to direct a particular child to a particular client, or not, and some have been accused of using this power to
defraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
prospective adoptive parents.


Number of adoptions


Recent numbers

, fewer than one infant out of every 200 born each year are relinquished for adoption by the birth mother. In 2019, this amounted to approximately 18,000 independent adoptions. Independent adoptions are usually arranged by attorneys and typically involve infants. Approximately 55% of all U.S. infant adoptions are completed via independent adoption. Additionally, approximately 3,000 infants were adopted from outside the U.S. In non-voluntary relinquishments, at any given point in time, approximately 100,000 children are eligible for adoption through the foster care system. Nearly all of these children are school-age (age 5 to 17); younger children tend to be disabled or have siblings that should be adopted as a group. The enactment of the
Adoption and Safe Families Act The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA, Public Law 105–89) was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 19, 1997, after having been approved by the United States Congress earlier in the month. Background ASFA was enacted in an ...
in 1997 has approximately doubled the number of children adopted from foster care in the United States. The number of adults who would like to adopt a healthy infant or toddler significantly exceeds the number of infants available for adoption.


Historical numbers

Statistics from the 1940s and 1950s are unreliable, but researchers generally estimate that about 20% of the babies born to unmarried white American women were put up for adoption before the 1970s, and that this number declined steeply in the 1970s and 1980s. Black birth mothers were much less likely to be involved in adoption. The 2000 census was the first census in which adoption statistics were collected. The estimated number of children adopted in the year 2000 was slightly over 128,000, bringing the total U.S. population of adopted children to 2,058,915. In 2008 the number of children adopted increased to nearly 136,000. (These numbers include adoption by stepparents and same-sex parents whose parental rights were not automatically recognized at birth.) International adoptions became common in the 1950s, driven initially by the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
and much later by
evangelical Christians Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...
.


International numbers

The highest number of international adoptions happened in 2004, and has declined to a small fraction of the peak since then. Children adopted from other countries are more likely to be female, largely due to the gender difference in adoptions from China. Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs


Organizations involved

Adoption agencies must be licensed by the state in which they operate. The U.S. government maintains a website
Child Welfare Information Gateway
which lists each state's licensed agencies. There are both private and public adoption agencies. Private adoption agencies often focus on infant adoptions, while public adoption agencies typically help find homes for waiting children, many of them presently in foster care and in need of a permanent loving home. To assist in the adoption of waiting children, there is a U.S. government-affiliated website, AdoptUSKids.org, assisting in sharing information about these children with potential adoptive parents. The North American Council on Adoptable Children provides information on financial assistance to adoptive parents (called adoption subsidies) when adopting a child with special needs.


Social and psychological results

Because of changes in adoption over the last few decades – changes that include
open adoption Open adoption is a form of adoption in which the biological and adoptive families have access to varying degrees of each other's personal information and have an option of contact. While open adoption is a relatively new phenomenon in the west, it ...
,
gay adoption Same-sex adoption is the adoption of children by same-sex couples. It may take the form of a joint adoption by the couple, or of the adoption by one partner of the other's biological child ( stepchild adoption). Joint adoption by same-sex co ...
,
international adoption International adoption (also referred to as intercountry adoption or transnational adoption) is a type of adoption in which an individual or couple residing in one country becomes the legal and permanent parent(s) of a child who is a national of ...
s and trans-racial (
racial transformation Racial transformation is the process by which a demographic region (e.g., a country, neighborhood, or a school) changes in racial composition. See also *'' Them: A Novel'' * Transracial (identity) References Race and society Gentrification ...
) adoptions, and a focus on moving children out of the
foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family mem ...
system into adoptive families – adoption has had a large impact on the basic unit of society and the family.
Joan Boocock Lee Joan Boocock Lee (5 February 1922 – 6 July 2017) was a British-American model and voice actress. She was the wife of comic book creator Stan Lee, whom she met in New York City in the 1940s while working as a hat model. In her later years, ...
, an
Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...
British-American actress married to a
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
husband, stated that as members of an
interfaith marriage Interfaith marriage, sometimes called a "mixed marriage", is marriage between spouses professing different religions. Although interfaith marriages are often established as civil marriages, in some instances they may be established as a religiou ...
the couple faced difficulty adopting in the mid-twentieth-century United States. Some adoption research scholars have reported seven core issues to consistently be associated with the processes of adoption. Problems with loss, grief, rejection, guilt and shame, identity, intimacy, and control may, in some cases, uniquely affect each member of the adoption triad.


Trans-racial adoption

The adoption of children of one race by parents of another race, which began officially in the United States in 1948, has always generated controversy. The argument often comes down to opposing views as to who gets to decide what is the "best interest" of children. Critics of transracial adoption question whether
white American White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represented ...
parents can effectively prepare children of color to deal with racism. Others wonder where the children raised by white parents will find social acceptance as adults. Testimony from many transracially adopted adults who grew up in white families illustrates the "in-between" status many adoptees feel, not belonging to or feeling comfortable in communities of color or among white society. Another source of controversy is the history of the widespread removal of children from families and communities of color, which has been shown by historians to have been a tool to regulate families and oppress communities, dating back to slavery times and during the now-discredited Indian Boarding School movement of the early twentieth century. Given this history of child removal, the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) condemned transracial adoptions in 1972 in their historic Position Statement. In that paper, the NABSW equated the removal of African American children from their families of origin—and their placement in white homes—with "
cultural genocide Cultural genocide or cultural cleansing is a concept which was proposed by lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944 as a component of genocide. Though the precise definition of ''cultural genocide'' remains contested, the Armenian Genocide Museum defines ...
." Pro-transracial adoption advocates argue that there are more
white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
families seeking to adopt than there are minority families; conversely, there are more minority children available for adoption. For example, in 2009, 41% of children available for adoption were African American, 40% were white children, and 15% were Hispanic children. This disparity often results in a lower cost to adopt children from ethnic minorities - usually through special adoption grants rather than fee discrimination. Many critics decry the exchange of money for children, whether as "fees for service" or otherwise, arguing that no children of any race should ever be for sale. Proponents point out practicality in the current systems. This situation is morally difficult because the adoptive families see adoption as a great benefit to trans-racially adopted children, while some minorities see it as an assault on their culture. In 2004, 26 percent of African-American children adopted from foster care were adopted trans-racially.''Overcoming Adoption’s Racial Barriers''
by Lynette Clemets and Ron Nixon,
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
, August 17, 2006
Government agencies have varied over time in their willingness to facilitate trans-racial adoptions. "Since 1994, white prospective parents have filed, and largely won, more than two dozen
discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...
lawsuits, according to state and federal court records." There is also a great need to place these children; in 2004 more than 45,000 African-American children were waiting to be adopted from foster care. In 2013, 7,092 kids were adopted from foreign countries down from 22,991 in 2004. This trend has helped lower the resistance to trans-racial adoptions in the United States, at least for Asian and Hispanic children, although there is still high demand for Caucasian children, who usually come from
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
. As the children adopted in the early days of the transracial adoption experiment have reached middle age, a growing chorus of voices from adult transracial adoptees has emerged. Their collective experience can be found in films, scholarly articles, memoirs, blogs, and numerous books on the subject.


Cost of adoption


Prohibitive cost

Adoption costs can range from almost nothing for foster care adoptions to over $50,000 for international adoptions. In 2015 the average U.S. adoption cost was $37,000. High costs negatively impact the demand for adoption, as fewer prospective adoptive families can afford to adopt, but the number of children that need to be adopted stays the same or increases. As a result, prospective adopters may seek less cost prohibitive alternatives to adoption like fertility treatments or privately arranged adoptions.


Source of costs

The cost of adoption varies widely based on the method of adoption. Almost all the different forms of adoptions have costs related to home study, documentation, adoption agency fees and profit, consultant fees, attorney fees, travel expenses, birth family expenses, foster care costs, early childhood medical costs, and relocation costs. Public foster care adoptions frequently incur zero costs, though the U.S. average is $2,622 according to a 2015 survey done by Adoptive Families Magazine. Independently-arranged adoptions, orchestrated by a private attorney, can vary greatly in costs. The arrangements are generally set up between prospective adopters and an expecting mother. While some independent adoption arrangements may stay low cost due to the nature of the agreement, costs still average $31,890. Independently-arranged adoptions can reduce costs by staying in-state, sharing prenatal and child birth medical costs with the birth parents, finding a birth parent by word-of-mouth or by offer to avoid shopping for an adoption-willing parent. Private adoption agencies are the most expensive option, with an average cost of $42,337. Out-of-state adoptions can drastically increase adoption costs due to complex legal challenges and travels costs. Costs vary between states due to differing regulations and fees that can cause additional expenses. Medical costs are also frequently cited as an unexpected expense for both the birth mothers and the children. "False starts," when a mother decides not to give up their baby after it is born, can cost up to $2,500 each time.


International adoption costs

International adoptions can vary in cost, depending on the country, and average between $30,000 and $50,000. In some countries, costs can be equivalent to domestic adoption. According to Adoptive Families Magazine, Ethiopia to U.S. adoptions in 2015 averaged $30,633, while South Korea to U.S. adoptions averaged $40,000 to $50,000. Disparities in countries' adoption costs can be attributed by the differences in their regulation and requirements. Both Ethiopia and South Korea require two trips by prospective adopters, which increases overall costs. South Korea's advanced pre-adoption care and medical system costs can also increase costs passed down to adoptive parents. Due to the potential of challenging political and cultural climates of adoption origin countries, undisclosed costs such as "required donations," facilitating or origin country agency fees, and other extrajudicial pay-offs to the children's guardians, or origin country or for-profit adoption agency.


Physical characteristics as a cost factor

The physical characteristics of children being considered for adoption; such as race, age, and physical or developmental disability; can cause a 74% variation in adoption costs. Adopting parents may have a desire for specific characteristics in their adoptive child, for which they are willing to pay extra costs to obtain. In international adoptions, children with brown skin color cost $8,200 less to adopt, and dark skin color $14,700 less to adopt, compared to Caucasian children. In domestic adoptions, adoptions cost $600 less per every additional year of age. Additionally, African American children cost $4,400 less than their Caucasian counterparts to adopt. Children with physical disabilities cost $4,000 less.


Subsidies and tax credits

Adopters can claim most expenses through the
adoption tax credit An adoption tax credit is a tax credit offered to adoptive parents to encourage adoption in the United States. Section 36C of the United States Internal Revenue code offers a credit for “qualified adoption expenses” paid or incurred by indiv ...
. For foster system adoptions, the adoption tax credit may cover the entire cost of adoption. Foster children may also qualify for monthly government stipends, Medicaid health insurance, and even college tuition.


Adoption reform

No sooner were US adoptions made secretive with original birth records sealed, than those adopted began to seek reform. Jean Paton, author of Breaking Silence and founder of Orphan Voyage in 1954, is regarded as the mother of adoption reform and reunification efforts. Jean Paton mentored adoptee Judith Land, "Adoption Detective: Memoir of an Adopted Child" during her adoption search. Florence Fisher organized The ALMA Society (Adoptees Liberation Movement Association) in 1972, Emma May Vilardi created International Soundex Reunion Registry (ISRR) in 1975, Lee Campbell and other birthmothers joined the fight for Open Records forming
Concerned United Birthparents Concerned United Birthparents, Inc. (CUB), a non-profit organization established in 1976, is one of two primary nationwide organizations offering support to the biological parents of adopted people in the United States. The organization is credited ...
(CUB) in 1976, and by the spring of 1979 representatives of 32 organizations from 33 states, Canada and Mexico gathered together in DC to establish the American Adoption Congress (AAC). The Triadoption Library began keeping records in 1978 showing 52 search/support/reform organizations, by 1985 there were over 550 worldwide. Adoption Reform encompasses
family preservation Family preservation was the movement to help keep children at home with their families rather than in foster homes or institutions. This movement was a reaction to the earlier policy of family breakup, which pulled children out of unfit homes. E ...
, adoptees' access to original birth certificates, birth and adoptive families having direct access to each other (
open adoption Open adoption is a form of adoption in which the biological and adoptive families have access to varying degrees of each other's personal information and have an option of contact. While open adoption is a relatively new phenomenon in the west, it ...
) and all related records (open records). ''The Adoption Triangle'' by Annette Baran, Reuben Pannor and Arthur Sorosky; ''Twice Born'' and ''Lost and Found'' by Betty Jean Lifton; ''I Would Have Searched Forever'' by Sandra Musser; ''The Adoption Searchbook: Techniques for Tracing People'' by Mary Jo Rillera; ''The Politics of Adoption'' by Mary Kathleen Benet; ''Dear Birthmother'' by Kathleen Silber and Phylis Speedlin; all published in the 1970s and still in print, were instrumental in examining and defining the foundation of reform. As of July 2014, 28 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have legal provisions for enforceable open adoption contact agreements, and an additional six states have provisions for enforceable agreements with some limitations. Each year additional states consider law changes that give persons separated by adoption access to information about themselves and each other. As of 2013, over 85% of adoptions in the US are either semi- or completely open.


Search and reunion

Many adopted children who were separated from their birth parents by adoption have a desire to reunite, and most would like family medical history information and access to any documents where they are mentioned. Often, birth parents who placed their infants want to reunite as well. In states which practice or have practiced confidential adoption, this has led to the creation of adoption reunion registries, and efforts to establish the right of adoptees to access their sealed records (for example, the
American Adoption Congress The American Adoption Congress (AAC) was created in the late 1970s as an umbrella organization by the search and support, adoption reform groups sprouting up across the United States, Canada and around the world. Initiated by Orphan Voyage founder ...
,
Concerned United Birthparents Concerned United Birthparents, Inc. (CUB), a non-profit organization established in 1976, is one of two primary nationwide organizations offering support to the biological parents of adopted people in the United States. The organization is credited ...
, and
Bastard Nation Bastard Nation is a North American adult adoptee political advocacy and support organization. It was founded in 1996 by denizens of the Usenet newsgroup alt.adoption Shea Grimm, Damsel Plum, Marley Greiner and Lainie Petersen. The original intent ...
). Others join search and support groups, most of which are non-profit, or some hire investigative companies to locate birth families and adopted children.


Related legislation

The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (H.R. 4980; 113th Congress) passed the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
on July 23, 2014. It is a bill that would address federal adoption incentives and would amend the
Social Security Act The Social Security Act of 1935 is a law enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law was pa ...
(SSA) to require the state plan for
foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family mem ...
and adoption assistance to demonstrate that the state agency has developed policies and procedures for identifying, documenting in agency records, and determining appropriate services with respect to, any child or youth over whom the state agency has responsibility for placement, care, or supervision who the state has reasonable cause to believe is, or is at risk of being, a victim of
sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the ...
or a severe form of trafficking in persons. The bill H.R. 4980 passed the Senate on September 9, 2014, and President Obama signed it into law on September 29.


See also

*
Adoption tax credit An adoption tax credit is a tax credit offered to adoptive parents to encourage adoption in the United States. Section 36C of the United States Internal Revenue code offers a credit for “qualified adoption expenses” paid or incurred by indiv ...
*
Adoption home study A home study or homestudy is a screening of the home and life of prospective adoptive parents prior to allowing an adoption to take place. In some places, and in all international adoptions, a home study is required by law. Even where it is not le ...
*
Korean adoptee The international adoption of South Korean children was at first started as a result of a large number of orphaned mixed children from the Korean War after 1953, but later included orphaned Korean children. Religious organizations in the United S ...
* Adoption in California * Adoption in Connecticut *
American family structure The traditional family structure in the United States is considered a family support system involving two married individuals providing care and stability for their biological offspring. However, this two-parent, heterosexual, nuclear family ...
*
Putative father registry In the United States of America, the putative father registry is a state level legal option for unmarried men to document through a notary public any woman they engage with in intercourse, for the purpose of retaining parental rights for any chil ...


References


External links


childwelfare.gov - The Child Welfare Information Gateway

The Adoption History Projection

Birthparent FAQsDomestic Adoption in U.S.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adoption In The United States
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
Family law in the United States