About the Adoption Process/Steps
Texas Adoption Agencies that can Help

 For a variety of societal and economic reasons, there have been dramatic fluctuations in the annual number of adoptions. Adoptions skyrocketed from a low of 50,000 in 1944 to a high of 175,000 in 1970. In 1992, the last year for which reliable numbers were available, there were almost 127,000 annual adoptions in the U.S.  In 1999, the latest year for which totals have been finalized, there were about 581,000 children in foster care in the United States.  Twenty-two percent of these children -- about 127,000 kids -- were available for adoption. 

 

Children in foster care with a case goal of adoption may wait years for adoptive placement. First, courts must terminate the birth parents' parental rights, making the children legally eligible for adoption. Children wait again for an adoptive placement (unless they are adopted by their foster parents or a relative). Finally, they wait for the legal adoption process to be completed. Recent data shows that children's experiences vary widely. Of the 46,000 foster children adopted in 1999, half waited less than one year for adoption after their birth parents' rights were terminated, and nearly half waited a year or more. Six percent waited three to four years.  Almost 70 percent of the children waiting to be adopted had been in continuous foster care for two years or more; twenty-five percent for five years or more.  Even with the recent increases in adoptions from foster care, the number of children waiting for adoption on September 30, 1999 was more than two-and-a-half times the number of children adopted during that year.

60 Percent of Children in Foster Care Waiting for Adoptive Families Are 6 Years of Age or Older.

 A disproportionate number of children age 1-5 are adopted--they comprise 45 percent of the children adopted from foster care, but 34 percent of waiting children. A similar marked difference can be found in the over-10 age group, which represents 17 percent of the children adopted from foster care, but 26 percent of the waiting foster children.  Researchers estimate that at 8 or 9 years of age, a child's likelihood of remaining in foster care becomes higher than the probability they will be adopted.

 

Many of the children in foster care have physical and/or psychological problems as a result of experiences including pre-natal exposure to alcohol or drugs, neglect and/or abuse, and multiple foster care placements. Thirty to forty percent of children in the child welfare system have physical health problems.  Although experts disagree on the number of kids with significant psychiatric and behavioral disorders, a high prevalence has been documented.

 

Most of the above cited data is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), which collects case level data from the state child welfare agencies and prepares aggregate reports. AFCARS documents the number of children in foster care and their status on the last day of each fiscal year; AFCARS also reports the number and characteristics of foster children adopted throughout the year. AFCARS Report 6, which details FY 1999 data, is the most recent and comprehensive data source available.

 

Key Texas Adoption Facts:  In 1992, 8,235 children were adopted in Texas.  In 1996, 1,430 children in foster care were legally free for adoption in Texas.  In 1999, 2,053 children within the Texas foster care system were adopted.  In 1999, there were 82 private agency adoptions within the state of Texas.