Foreign Adoptions Down

Each year thousands of Americans seeking to add to their families by adoption look overseas to fulfill their desires. However, this route is becoming increasingly difficult. In the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, foreign adoptions were down by more than a quarter from the previous year.

China, the major source of foreign adoptions by Americans, is more and more focusing on domestic adoptions and has imposed stringent requirements for people outside the country. Russia, too, is promoting adoption at home. Guatemala has closed its borders to foreign adoption while reforms to the system are being made and it is not certain when Americans can again adopt from the country.

Hopefully, Americans thwarted in their efforts to adopt internationally will look homeward to the 130,000 children in the United States now languishing in foster care waiting to find “forever” homes. 1600 of them are in the Delaware Valley.

These are usually not infants and many families may be reluctant to take on the care and raising of children whose ideas and attitudes have already been formed. The majority of these children are school age and many of them are teens. However, they desire and deserve the same kind of attention and love showered on infants or younger children. Some of them are siblings who need to be adopted together.

Adoptive parents do not need to have a specific income and they do not need to own their own homes. Many of the children are eligible for financial subsidy. Please contact us if you would like more information about adopting children out of the foster care system. Call today for a free packet of information, 215-735-9988 or visit us at www.adopt.org.