US International Adoption Statistics FY 2013

Dos has issued “FY 2013 Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption .” Find that here.

This year the total number is down to 7,094. The listing gives 3723/7094 as Non-Convention cases or 52.48%. That is 47.52% of cases that actually follow Hague. Articles listing the figures do not include this statistic. Surprising that it doesn’t include it because only 29% followed Hague in FY 2011.

The top 5 countries are as follows:

China 2306 down from 2697 FY 2012

Ethiopia 993 down from 1568 FY2012

Ukraine 448 UP from 395 FY 2012

Haiti 388 UP from 154 FY 2012

Congo 313 UP from 240 FY 2012

Other countries is exceeded 100 are as follows:

Uganda 276 UP from 238 FY 2012

Russia 250 down from 748 in FY 2012

Nigeria 183 down from 197 FY2012

Philippines 178 UP from 125 FY 2012

Ghana 170 down from 171 FY 2012

Colombia 159 down from 195 FY 2012

Bulgaria 159 UP from 125 FY 2012

Rep.  of Korea 138 down from 627 in FY 2012

India 119 down from 159 FY 2012

***

Taiwan is down to 94  placements (177 in FY 2010)

Jamaica 79 UP from 43 in FY 2012

Latvia 89 UP from 81 in FY 2012

There were 84 outgoing adoptions.

DOS claims that 92 children + 5 disruptions really occured.

“Despite the relatively high numbers of adoptions from the Congo, that African country has been the cause of heartache from some American families trying to adopt Congolese children. In several instances, U.S. parents have obtained court approval for adoptions and taken custody of the children, only to be denied exit permits that would enable them to bring the children to the United States. They face a choice of living in the Congo with their children or returning to the U.S. without them.

“It’s a terrible shame,” said Susan Jacobs, the State Department’s special adviser on children’s issues.”

“Chuck Johnson, CEO of the National Council of Adoption, contended that the decline stems in part from the way the State Department has applied the Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption, which establishes ethical standards for international adoptions

The U.S. entered into the agreement in 2008 with strong support from adoption advocates who hoped it would curtail fraud and corruption, and then lead to a boom in legitimate adoptions. Instead, the decrease has continued.

“The U.S. has encouraged and in some cases strong-armed impoverished countries to sign the Hague Convention and then cites their inability to comply with strict Hague standards as a reason for not doing intercountry adoption with them,” Johnson said.

Johnson expressed hope that Congress would support a bill introduced with bipartisan support last year — the Children in Families First Act — that would encourage more adoptions of foreign orphans. [

It would create a new bureau in the State Department assigned to work with non-governmental organizations and foreign countries to minimize the number of children without families — through family preservation and reunification, kinship care, and domestic and international adoption.

Concerns about corruption, child-trafficking and baby-selling have prompted the United States to suspend adoptions from several countries in recent years, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Guatemala and Nepal.

However, Jacobs said some adoptions from Vietnam — mostly involving children with special needs — were expected to resume soon. She said a Vietnamese delegation was due in the U.S. next month to interview U.S. adoption agencies with the aim of selecting some to operate in Vietnam.

“One thing that remains constant is our support for intercountry adoptions and our determination that they are done ethically and transparently,” Jacobs said. “I can’t think of anything worse than for a child to be consigned to an institution when they should be with a family.”

The State Department reported that 84 American children were adopted by residents of foreign countries last year — 35 of them went to Canada and 38 to the Netherlands.”

Foreign Adoptions by Americans Decline Sharply[ABC news 3/21/14 by Associated Press/David Crary]

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