Not even Angelina Jolie could turn these numbers around. International adoptions in the U.S. have fallen dramatically for a third year in a row.
State Department figures show that only 19,411 children were adopted by Americans from foreign countries last year, a decrease of 15 percent in the past two years.
The huge drop is due to tougher requirements in two countries – China and Russia -- where most children have been adopted into the U.S. in recent years. As waiting times strectched in China from 8 months to 2 years, families started looked elsewhere for children. Russia suspended all out-of-country adoptions this year, until it could reaccredit the agencies handling their adoptions. Both countries are trying to boost adoptions within the country.
Angelina Jolie certainly brought international adoption into the spotlight, but even before she snatched up baby Maddox and brought him back to Hollywood, foreign adoptions had been on a fast and steady increase since the early 1990s, tripling until they reached a peak of 22,884 children in 2004. The number then fell by more than 2,000 kids in 2006.
According to State Department figures: “U.S. adoptions from South Korea and Haiti also declined significantly, although the overall drop was partially offset by large increases in adoptions from Guatemala (up from 4,135 to 4,728), Ethiopia (732 to 1,255) and Vietnam (163 to 626).”
Adoptions from Guatemala will also drop drastically for the next couple of years as that country suspends adoptions and in an effort to ensure the legitimacy of the whole process.
