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For over 30 years the Federal Government
collected and published information on adoption in the United States.
Because the information is located in over 20 documents and very
few copies of these documents are accessible to the general public,
this research note compiles selected information from these documents.
Information on adoptions in the United States from 1944 through
1975 was collected and published by the Children's Bureau and the
National Center for Social Statistics. The reporting system which
provided the data base for these reports involved the voluntary
cooperation of the States and territories utilizing court records.
A high of 52 States and territories participated in the reporting
system in 1961, 1962 and 1964. A low of 22 States participated in
the reporting system in 1944. (See Table 1.)
The estimated total number of adoptions ranged from a low of 50,000
in 1944 to a high of 175,000 in 1970. (See Table 1.) The proportion
of adoptions by related individuals steadily increased during this
period until they constituted over 60% of all adoptions by 1975.
(See Table 2.) This increase in the portion of adoptions by relatives
continues a trend noted by Zarefsky when examining data from six
States from 1934 and 1944. These data indicated the percentage of
adoptions by related individuals had increased in the six States
studied from 17% in 1934 to 41% in 1944.
The proportional increase in adoptions by related petitioners between
1944 and 1970 appears to be more a function of the decline in the
estimated number of adoptions by unrelated petitioners than a function
of an increase in the estimated number of adoptions by related petitioners.
The number of adoptions by unrelated petitioners declined from a
high of 89,200 in 1970 to 47,700 in 1975, while the number of adoptions
by related petitioners remained between 81,000 and 89,000 during
this period. (See Table 2.)
Between 1951 and 1975 the percentage of adoptive placements not
made under agency auspices (i.e. independent adoptions) declined
substantially from 53% of all adoptions in 1951 to 23% of all adoptions
in 1975. The lowest percentage was in 1971 and 1972 when independent
adoptions constituted only 21% of all reported adoptions.
This decline corresponded with the period when professional groups
such as the Child Welfare League of America and maternity home groups
highlighted some of the difficulties with independent adoptions.
In addition, during the early 1950's Senator Kefauver conducted
hearings which explored black market adoptions. The activities of
professional groups and the Kefauver Hearings stimulated professionals
in public and private agencies to reach out to provide a variety
of services to birth parents and prospective adoptive parents. States
responded to these activities by clarifying regulations as to who
may place a child for adoption. Consequently, between 1951 and 1975
the percentage of adoptive placements by public agencies more than
doubled form 18% in 1951 to 39% in 1975, while the pecentage of
adoptions by private agencies increased from 29% in 1951 to 38%
in 1975. The highest percentage for private agencies was 45% in
1970.
It is interesting to note that this period of decline in the percentage
of independent adoptions coincided with the increase in the percentage
of adoptions by related petitioners. Since almost all adoptions
by related petitioners are handled independently, it is likely that
by the 1970's a substantial proportion of the remaining independence
adoptions were by related petitioners.
Current data collection activities related to adoption focus on
children primarily being placed from public foster care systems.
The data collection is conducted under the auspices of the American
Public Welfare Association through the Voluntary Cooperative Information
System. The data collection is now in its second year of operation.
The recent Child Welfare Indicator Survey developed estimates concerning
children in adoptive placement. According to that survey approximately
50,000 in the public foster care system were free for adoption in
December, 1982. Of those children approximately 17,000 were in adoptive
placements and the remaining 33,000 were still waiting for an adoptive
home. There are no on-going data collection activities focused on
children who are solely the responsibility of the private agencies
or placed independently.
Table I: National Estimates: Total Number of Adoptoins—1944
to 1975
|
Year |
Number of States Reporting |
Reported Total |
Estimated Total |
|
1944 |
22 |
16,000 |
50,000 |
|
1951 |
33 |
36,732 |
72,000* |
|
1955 |
39 |
54,589 |
93,000 |
|
1957 |
46 |
71,934 |
91,000 |
|
1958 |
47 |
76,095 |
96,000 |
|
1959 |
47 |
82,537 |
102,000 |
|
1960 |
50 |
95,682 |
107,000 |
|
1961 |
52 |
108,733 |
114,000 |
|
1962 |
52 |
117,662 |
121,000 |
|
1963 |
50 |
122,944 |
127,000 |
|
1964 |
52 |
133,106 |
135,000 |
|
1965 |
51 |
139,222 |
142,000 |
|
1966 |
51 |
148,995 |
152,000 |
|
1967 |
51 |
154,166 |
158,000 |
|
1968 |
48 |
155,734 |
166,000 |
|
1969 |
49 |
161,295 |
171,000 |
|
1970 |
49 |
163,231 |
175,000 |
|
1971 |
50 |
159,844 |
169,000 |
|
1972 |
37 |
99,552 |
153,000* |
|
1973 |
41 |
112,849 |
148,000* |
|
1974 |
41 |
107,874 |
138,000* |
|
1975 |
40 |
104,188 |
129,000* |
* Indicates estimates developed by the author. All other estimates
were developed at the time the data were published.
Table 2: National Estimates: Relatoinship of the Petitioner
to the Adopted Child—1944 to 1975
|
Year |
Estimated Total |
Unrelated Petitioners |
Related Petitioners |
Percentage Unrelated Petitioners |
Percentage Related Petitioners |
1934 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
83%** |
17%** |
1944 |
50,000 |
NA |
NA |
59%** |
41%** |
1951 |
72,000* |
33,800* |
38,200* |
47% |
53% |
1955 |
93,000 |
48,400* |
44,600* |
52% |
48% |
1957 |
91,000 |
48,200 |
42,800 |
53% |
47% |
1958 |
96,000 |
50,900 |
45,100 |
50% |
50% |
1959 |
102,000 |
54,100 |
47,900 |
53% |
47% |
1960 |
107,000 |
57,800 |
49,200 |
54% |
46% |
1961 |
114,000 |
61,600 |
52,400 |
54% |
46% |
1962 |
121,000 |
62,900 |
58,100 |
52% |
48% |
1963 |
127,000 |
67,300 |
59,700 |
53% |
47% |
1964 |
135,000 |
71,600 |
63,400 |
53% |
47% |
1965 |
142,000 |
76,700 |
65,300 |
54% |
46% |
1966 |
152,000 |
80,600 |
71,400 |
53% |
47% |
1967 |
158,000 |
83,700 |
74,300 |
53% |
47% |
1968 |
166,000 |
86,300 |
79,700 |
52% |
48% |
1969 |
171,000 |
88,900 |
82,100 |
52% |
48% |
1970 |
175,000 |
89,200 |
85,800 |
51% |
49% |
1971 |
169,000 |
82,800 |
86,200 |
49% |
50% |
1972 |
153,000* |
67,300* |
85,700* |
44% |
56% |
1973 |
148,000* |
59,200* |
88,800* |
40% |
60% |
1974 |
138,000* |
49,700* |
88,300* |
36% |
64% |
1975 |
129,000* |
47,700* |
81,300* |
37% |
63% |
* Indicates estimates developed by the author. All other estimates
were developed at the time the data were published.
** Based on information from six States. No National estimates
are available.
NA means data are not available.
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