New Intercountry Adoption Report Details Decreasing International Adoption Numbers

A new report by the U.S. Department of State highlights an adoption trend that professionals have known for years — international adoption to the United States is dropping, and rapidly so.
While it was once a staple for hopeful American parents, adoption from foreign countries is a much more difficult path to travel today. The report from the Department of State details how intercounty adoptions to the U.S. have dropped over 13 percent from last year — and over 84 percent since 2004. In total, American families adopted only 4,059 children from foreign countries between October 2017 and September 2018.
The decrease in overall foreign adoptions can be explained by the decrease from the previously largest-sending countries to the U.S. These include:
- Democratic Republic of Congo (decreased by 65 percent)
- Ethiopia (decreased by 43 percent and imposed a ban on intercountry adoption in 2018)
- Uganda (decreased by 53 percent)
- Ethiopia (decreased by 43 percent)
- South Korea (decreased by 25 percent)
- China (decreased by 23 percent)
- Haiti (decreased by 14 percent)
- Bulgaria (decreased by 9 percent)