Total Adoptions in the U.S. by State (2024)

FAQs

Total Adoptions in the U.S. by State? ›

In the fiscal year of 2021, about 156 children from other countries were adopted by American families living in California, the highest of any U.S. state.

In the fiscal year of 2021, about 156 children from other countries were adopted by American families living in California, the highest of any U.S. state.

About 150,000 adoptions happen each year, including about 50,000 foster-care adoptions. While most adoptions involve minor children (under the age of 18), adult adoption is also possible.

Some of the less adoption-friendly states include California, Maine, Maryland, Ohio and Rhode Island. However, it is absolutely still possible to adopt in these states, and there are many local and national adoption professionals who can assist families in navigating the process and their state's laws.

As of 2021, California has the highest number of foster care placements with 47,871 children currently in care, followed by Texas and Florida with 28,042 and 23,507, respectively.

How many families in the U.S. are waiting to adopt? As we mentioned earlier, there is no shortage of families looking to adopt infants. But, there is always a need for loving foster homes and people willing to adopt older children from the foster system.

What's the toughest age to adopt? Many adoption professionals say that toddlers (children aged one to three years) have the hardest transition to adoption. They are old enough to feel the loss of familiar people and surroundings, but too young to understand what's happening to them.

Practicing Christians (5%) are more than twice as likely to adopt than the general population (2%).

However, I recently learned that Japan has the world's second highest adoption rate with more than 80,000 adoptions per year. The country with the highest rate is the United States.

How many unadopted babies are there in the US? ›

How many children are awaiting adoption in the United States? Of the 400,000 children in foster care, approximately 117,000 are waiting to be adopted.

How many people are waiting to adopt a child? There are no national statistics on how many people are waiting to adopt, but experts estimate it is somewhere between one and two million couples.

In fact, it's estimated that 75-80% of adoptive parents prefer to adopt girls both domestically and internationally.

Barna Research has found that practicing Christians are more than twice as likely to adopt as the general population. These findings also showed that practicing Christians were more likely to adopt older children, children with special needs, and other children considered “hard to place.”

Other findings about children who were adopted from the child welfare system: In patterns that have been relatively stable for more than a decade, the majority (54% in 2021) of these adoptees are from birth to age 5, just over 1 in 4 is age 6 to 10, 1 in 6 is 11 to 15 and 4% are older youth ages 16 to 20.

Of the 282,921 foreign-born children adopted into US families between 1999 and 2022, 82,658 (or 29.2%) came from China. That's more than the next two countries combined — Russia with 46,113 and Guatemala with 29,807.

Foster care in the U.S. - number of children waiting for adoption 2007-2021. In 2021, about 113,589 children in the United States were waiting to be adopted.

Although it is estimated that between 2-4% of Americans have adopted, more than 1/3 have considered it. Up to out of every 25 U.S. families with children have an adopted child.