Are Men More Interested in Adoption?
A recent study, out just this past Thursday, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center on Health Statistics, brought up some interesting data on men and adoption. Are you ready for this one? According to 2002 statistics from the National Survey of Family Growth, men ages 18 to 44 are more than twice as likely as women in the same age group to have adopted a child. Really? The stats show that 1.2 million men and 613,000 women had adopted children.
This one really got me thinking. Why? The only reason that the report could possibly point to is that men are more apt to marry and adopt their spouse's children from a previous relationship.
That does make more sense, because most men I meet in foster and adoption classes seem like they are dragged there by their spouses. Not always. But sometimes.
The report goes on to state that about 100,000 never-married women and 73,000 never-married men had adopted a child. The statistic that I found most interesting: Hispanic and non-Hispanic black women were more likely to be seeking to adopt than non-Hispanic white women.
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Thank you for your advice. I really appreciate your insight into adoptions and fostering children. Keep it up.
Thank you very much!
Minority children are overrepresented in the foster care system; often, attempts are made to permanently place foster children with kin (aunts, grandmothers), which may explain the larger proportion of African American and Hispanic women “more likely seeking to adopt.”
magfirenze,
You made an excellent point. Never thought of that one.
Thanks for adding to the discussion.