Series 23, Number 27 August 2008

Adoption Experiences of

Women and Men and

Demand for Children to

Adopt by Women 18–44

Years of Age in the

United States, 2002
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Suggested citation

Jones J. Adoption experiences of women and men and demand for children to

adopt by women 18–44 years of age in the United States, 2002. National

Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 23(27). 2008.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Adoption experiences of women and men, and demand for children to adopt by

women ages 18–44 in the United States, 2002.

p. ; cm.— (DHHS publication ; no. (PHS) 2008–1979) (Vital and health

statistics. Series. 23 ; no. 27)

′′August 2008.′′

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8406-0624-2

ISBN-10: 0-8406-0624-9

1. Adoption—United States—Statistics. I. National Center for Health

Statistics (U.S.) II. Series. III. Series: Vital and health statistics. Series 23, Data

from the national survey of family growth ; no. 27.

[DNLM: 1. Adoption—psychology—United States—Statistics. 2. Child

Rearing—United States—Statistics. 3. Family Characteristics—United States—

Statistics. 4. Family Planning Services—utilization—United States. 5. Health

Surveys—United States—Statistics. 6. Women—psychology—United States—

Statistics. W2 A N148vw no.27 2008 / WS 105.5.F2 A2385 2008]

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Printed on acid-free paper.
Series 23, Number 27

Adoption Experiences of

Women and Men and

Demand for Children to

Adopt by Women 18–44

Years of Age in the

United States, 2002

Data From the National Survey of

Family Growth

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Center for Health Statistics

Hyattsville, Maryland

August 2008

DHHS Publication No. (PHS) 2008–1979
National Center for Health Statistics

Edward J. Sondik, Ph.D., Director

Jennifer H. Madans, Ph.D., Acting Co-Deputy Director

Michael H. Sadagursky, Acting Co-Deputy Director

Jennifer H. Madans, Ph.D., Associate Director for Science

Jennifer H. Madans, Ph.D., Acting Associate Director for

Planning, Budget, and Legislation

Michael H. Sadagursky, Associate Director for

Management and Operations

Lawrence H. Cox, Ph.D., Associate Director for Research

and Methodology

Linda B. Torian, Acting Director for Information Technology

Linda B. Torian, Acting Director for Information Services

Linda T. Bilheimer, Ph.D., Associate Director for Analysis

and Epidemiology

Charles J. Rothwell, M.S., Director for Vital Statistics

Jane E. Sisk, Ph.D., Director for Health Care Statistics

Jane F. Gentleman, Ph.D., Director for Health Interview

Statistics

Clifford L. Johnson, M.S.P.H., Director for Health and

Nutrition Examination Surveys

Division of Vital Statistics

Charles J. Rothwell, M.S., Director

Delton Atkinson, M.P.H., M.P.H., P.M.P., Deputy Director

Stephanie J. Ventura, M.A., Chief, Reproductive Statistics

Branch
Contents
 

Acknowledgments .......................................................................................... v 
 

Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 
 

Highlights ................................................................................................ 1 
 

Ever Adopted a Child (Tables 1–4, Figures 1–3)................................................................ 1 
 

Lifetime and Current Adoption Consideration and Steps Taken to Adopt (Tables 5–10, Figures 4–7)...................... 1 
 

Characteristics of Women Who Seek to Adopt and Take Steps to Adopt (Tables 11–14, Figures 8–9) ..................... 2 
 

Characteristics of the Child That Women Would Prefer or Accept When Considering Adoption (Table 15)................. 2 
 

Relinquishment of Children (Table 16) ....................................................................... 2 
 

Introduction ............................................................................................... 2 
 

Methods .................................................................................................. 3 
 

Collection of Adoption Information from Women............................................................... 4 
 

Characteristics of the Adopted Child That Women Would Prefer................................................... 6 
 

Relinquishment of Infants for Adoption at Birth ................................................................ 6 
 

Collection of Adoption Information from Men ................................................................. 7 
 

Results .................................................................................................. 8 
 

Ever Adopted a Child ..................................................................................... 8 
 

Demand for Adoption .................................................................................... 11 
 

Characteristics of Women Who Seek To Adopt and Take Steps to Adopt, Ever and Currently .......................... 13 
 

Characteristics of the Adopted Child That Women Would Prefer.................................................. 15 
 

Relinquishment of Infants for Adoption at Birth ............................................................... 16 
 

Conclusion ............................................................................................... 16 
 

References ............................................................................................... 17 
 

Appendix I............................................................................................... 35 
 

Sample Design and Fieldwork Procedures.................................................................... 35 
 

Statistical Analysis....................................................................................... 35 
 

Effect of Rounding on Reported Figures ..................................................................... 35 
 

Definition of Terms...................................................................................... 35 
 

Figures

1.	 Outcome of ever considering adoption among all women and ever-married women, 18–44 years of age: United States,
 

2002............................................................................................... 7 
 

2.	 Current adoption demand among all women and ever-married women, 18–44 years of age: United States, 2002 ....... 8 
 

3.	 Percent distribution of women and men 18–44 years of age by adoption status and percent distribution of adopters
 

by sex and having given birth to or fathered a child: United States, 2002 ...................................... 10 
 

4.	 Percentage of all women 18–44 years of age who have ever considered adopting a child by fecundity status and use
 

of infertility services: United States, 2002 ............................................................... 13 
 

5.	 Percentage of all women 20–44 years of age who have ever considered adopting a child by poverty level income and
 

Hispanic origin and race: United States, 2002 ............................................................ 13 
 

6.	 Percentage of all women 18–44 years of age currently seeking to adopt a child by parity and use of infertility
 

services: United States, 2002 .......................................................................... 14 
 

iii
7.	 Percentage of all women 18–44 years of age currently seeking to adopt a child by fecundity status and use of
 

infertility services: United States, 2002.................................................................. 14 
 

8.	 Percent distribution by age of all women, women who have ever taken steps to adopt a child, and women who are
 

currently taking steps to adopt a child, women 18–44 years of age: United States, 2002 .......................... 15 
 

9.	 Percent distribution by fecundity status of all women, women who have ever considered adopting a child, and women
 

who are currently seeking to adopt a child, women 18–44 years of age: United States, 2002 ...................... 15 
 

Detailed Tables

1.	 Number of ever-married women 18–44 years of age and percentage who have ever adopted a child, by selected
 

characteristics: United States, 1973–2002 ................................................................ 19 
 

2.	 Number of all women 18–44 years of age, number of ever-married women 18–44 years of age, and percentage who
 

have ever adopted a child, by selected characteristics: United States, 2002 ..................................... 20 
 

3.	 Number of all women 18–44 years of age and percentage who have ever adopted a child, by use of infertility services,
 

age, and parity: United States, 2002 .................................................................... 21 
 

4.	 Number of all men 18–44 years of age, number of ever-married men 18–44 years of age, and percentage who have
 

ever adopted a child, by selected characteristics: United States, 2002 ......................................... 22 
 

5.	 Number of all women 18–44 years of age and percentage who have ever considered adoption, number of women who
 

ever considered adoption and percentage who have ever taken steps to adopt, and number of women who ever took
 

steps to adopt and percentage who ever adopted a child, by selected characteristics: United States, 2002 ............ 23 
 

6.	 Number of ever-married women 18–44 years of age and percentage who have ever considered adoption, number of
 

ever-married women who have ever considered adoption and percentage who have ever taken steps to adopt, and
 

number of ever-married women who ever took steps to adopt and percentage who have ever adopted a child, by
 

selected characteristics: United States, 2002 .............................................................. 24 
 

7.	 Number of all women 18–44 years of age, percentage who are currently seeking to adopt and, of those currently
 

seeking to adopt, percentage who are currently taking steps to adopt, by selected characteristics: United States, 2002 . . 25
 

8.	 Number of ever-married women 18–44 years of age, percentage who are currently seeking to adopt and, of those
 

currently seeking to adopt, percentage who are currently taking steps to adopt, by selected characteristics:
 

United States, 2002.................................................................................. 26 
 

9.	 A comparison of lifetime adoption demand among ever-married women 18–44 years of age, by selected characteristics:
 

United States, 1995–2002............................................................................. 27 
 

10.	 A comparison of current adoption demand among ever-married women 18–44 years of age, by selected characteristics:
 

United States, 1995–2002............................................................................. 28 
 

11.	 Number and percent distribution of all women 18–44 years of age and all women reporting lifetime adoption-seeking
 

behaviors, according to selected characteristics: United States, 2002 .......................................... 29 
 

12.	 Number and percent distribution of all women 18–44 years of age and all women reporting current adoption-seeking
 

behaviors, according to selected characteristics: United States, 2002 .......................................... 30 
 

13.	 Number and percent distribution of ever-married women 18–44 years of age and ever-married women reporting
 

lifetime adoption-seeking behaviors, according to selected characteristics: United States, 2002..................... 31 
 

14.	 Number and percent distribution of ever-married women 18–44 years of age and ever-married women reporting
 

current adoption-seeking behaviors, according to selected characteristics: United States, 2002 ..................... 32 
 

15.	 Number of women 18–44 years of age currently seeking to adopt a child not already known to them and percentage
 

who prefer or who would accept a child with the selected characteristic: United States, 2002...................... 33 
 

16.	 Among children born to never-married women under 45 years of age, percentage who were relinquished for adoption,
 

by race, according to year of child’s birth: United States, before 1973–2002 ................................... 34 
 

iv
Acknowledgments
 

Cycle6 (2002) of the National

Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) was

conducted by the National Center for

Health Statistics (NCHS) with the

support and assistance ofa number of

other organizations and individuals.

Interviewing and other tasks were

carried out by the University of

Michigan’s Institute for Social Research,

undera contract with NCHS. The NSFG

was jointly planned and funded by the

following programs and agencies of the

U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services: +	 The Eunice Kennedy Shriver

National Institute of Child Health

and Human Development (NICHD)

+	 The Office of Population Affairs +	 The Centers for Disease Control’s

National Center for Health Statistics

(CDC/NCHS)

+	 CDC’s National Center for HIV,

STD, and TB Prevention

+	 CDC’s Division of Reproductive

Health

+	 CDC’s Office of Women’s Health

+ The Office of Planning, Research,

and Evaluation of the Administration

for Children and Families (ACF)

+	 The Children’s Bureau of the ACF +	 The Office of the Assistant Secretary

for Planning and Evaluation

NCHS gratefully acknowledges the

contributions of these programs and

agencies, and all others who assisted in

designing and carrying out the NSFG.

This report was prepared under the

general direction of Stephanie J.

Ventura, Chief, Reproductive Statistics

Branch, Division of Vital Statistics, and

Charles J. Rothwell, Director, Division

of Vital Statistics, CDC/NCHS. The

author gratefully acknowledges peer

reviews of earlier drafts of this report by

Anjani Chandra, William Mosher,

Brittany McGill, and Joyce Abma,

NCHS; Penelope Maza, Children’s

Bureau; and Rosalind Berkowitz King,

NICHD. Yashodhara Patel, CDC/

NIOSH/DSHEFS reviewed the text and

statistical tables. This report was edited

by Gail V. Johnson of CDC/CCHIS/

NCHM/Division of Creative Services,

Writer-Editor Services Branch; typeset

by Annette F. Holman, CDC/CCHIS/

NCHM/Division of Creative Services;

and the graphics were produced by

Kyung Park, CDC/CCHIS/NCHM/

Division of Creative Services, Northrop

Grumman Corporation.

v
Objective

This report presents national

estimates of the prevalence of adoption

for men and women 18–44 years of

age, the demand for children to adopt

by women, and women’s preferences

for characteristics of the adopted child.

Methods

Analysis is based on data from the

2002 National Survey of Family Growth.

This survey interviewed a nationally

representative sample of women and

men 15–44 years of age in their

households. Results are weighted to

produce national estimates of the

characteristics of men and women who

have adopted children, lifetime and

current demand for adoption by women,

and the characteristics of children

preferred by women when they are

considering adoption.

Results

Adoption remains rare in the United

States. Among all women aged 18–44 in

2002, only 1.1% had adopted a child and

1.6% were currently seeking to adopt.

Women were more likely to be currently

seeking to adopt, to have ever sought to

adopt, and to have actually adopted a

child if they had used infertility services or

had impaired fecundity. Older women and

women who were in their second or later

marriage were also more likely to have

adopted a child. Hispanic and nonHispanic black women were more likely to

be currently seeking to adopt compared

with non-Hispanic white women. More

men than women have adopted children

in their lifetimes. Among adopters, 17% of

women and 6% of men were never

married.

Conclusions

Adopting a child has been and

remains a relatively rare event in the

United States. Adoption is a mechanism

by which adults legalize their parental

relationship to nonbiological children as

well as a means to bring children into

families. Studies examining adoption

should include men as well as women

and persons of all marital statuses.

Keywords: adoption c nonbiological

children c relinquishment c NSFG

Adoption Experiences of

Women and Men and Demand

for Children to Adopt by

Women 18–44 Years of Age in

the United States, 2002

by Jo Jones, Ph.D., Division of Vital Statistics

Highlights
 

Ever Adopted a Child

(Tables 1–4, Figures 1–3)

+	 Adoption has been and remains rare.

Between 1973 and 2002, the

percentage of ever-married women

18–44 years of age who had adopted

a child fluctuated between 1.3 and

2.2 (Table 1).

+	 Men were twice as likely as women

18–44 years of age to have adopted

a child. Among ever-married

persons, men (3.8%) were more than

2.5 times as likely as women (1.4%)

to have adopted (Tables 2 and 4).

+	 One-quarter (26%) of nulliparous

women 40–44 years of age who had

ever used infertility services had

adopted a child (Table 3).

+	 While never-married adults 18–44

years of age were significantly less

likely to have adopted a child

compared with those who were

currently married, about 100,000

never-married women and 73,000

never-married men had adopted a

child (based on Tables 2 and 4).

Lifetime and Current

Adoption Consideration

and Steps Taken to Adopt

(Tables 5–10, Figures 4–7)

+	 One-third of all women 18–44 years

of age had ever considered adopting

a child. Of these, about one of seven

had taken steps to adopt. Women

who had ever taken steps to adopt

were more likely to be 30–44 years

of age, to be currently married, to

have used infertility services, and to

be surgically sterile or with impaired

fecundity than women of other

characteristics (Tables 5 and 6).

+	 Overall, 1.6% of all women and

2.0% of ever-married women 18–44

years of age were currently seeking

to adopt a child. Of these,

approximately two-thirds were

currently taking steps to adopt (62

and 67%, respectively; Tables 7 and

8).

+	 Seven of ten women with impaired

fecundity who had ever used

infertility services had considered

adopting a child at some time in

their lives; within each fecundity

status group, women who had ever

used infertility services were more

likely than those who had not used

infertility services to have ever

considered adopting a child

(Figure 4). Similarly, women who

had ever used infertility services and

women who have impaired

fecundity were more likely to be

currently seeking to adopt than other

women (Tables 7 and 8).

+	 Higher percentages of Hispanic

women and non-Hispanic black

women were currently seeking to

adopt a child compared with

non-Hispanic white women

(Tables 7 and 8).

Page 1
Page 2 [ Series 23, No. 27

+	 More than twice as many

ever-married women who had ever	 

used infertility services or who had

impaired fecundity were currently

seeking to adopt a child in 2002

compared with women in the same

groups in 1995 (Table 10).

Characteristics of Women

Who Seek to Adopt and

Take Steps to Adopt

(Tables 11–14, Figures 8–9)

+	 Forty percent of women currently

taking steps to adopt were 35–39

years of age, double the percentage

of the population of all women in

this age group (Table 12, Figure 8).

+	 Three-quarters of women currently

seeking to adopt a child had

impaired fecundity or were

surgically sterile (Figure 9).

Characteristics of the

Child That Women Would

Prefer or Accept When

Considering Adoption

(Table 15)

+	 Women currently seeking to adopt

would prefer to adopt a child

younger than 2 years old, without a

disability, and a single child rather

than two or more siblings. The data

suggest that women would prefer to

adopt a girl rather than a boy

(Table 15).

+ Women would accept children with

most nonpreferred characteristics

(Table 15). Two-thirds of women,

however, would not accept a child

13 years of age or older or a child

with a severe disability.

Relinquishment of

Children (Table 16)

+	 Relinquishment of infants at birth is

extremely rare. Only 1% of children

born in the United States in

1996–2002 to women 18–44 years

of age as of 2002 were relinquished

for adoption within their first month

of life (Table 16).

Introduction

Adoption is an institution that

fulfills several purposes in contemporary

American society. It provides parents for

infants who are relinquished by birth

parents (1) and for children whose

parents have died or had their parental

rights legally terminated. It provides

individuals and couples a means to

bring children into their families when

they are unable to conceive or carry a

pregnancy to term due to fertility

difficulties (2,3). And, it can serve to

provide a legal relationship between an

adult and a nonbiological child for

whom the adult is already caring—a

stepchild, a child related by blood or

marriage, or a child not related in any

manner to the adopter and his or her

partner—the adoption occurs to

formalize the parent-child relationship,

not necessarily to fulfill the adult’s

desire to raise a child.

In the case of nonrelative infant

adoptions, providing a child with a

family and providing a couple or

individual with a child are

complementary purposes; the number of

these adoptions are governed by the

number of children available for

adoption (supply) and the number of

individuals and couples seeking children

to adopt (demand). In the past 30 years,

several societal changes have decreased

the number of children placed for

adoption. First, keeping and raising their

babies has become a more frequent

choice of unmarried, pregnant women of

all ages so that fewer babies have been

relinquished for adoption (4–6). Second,

there had been an overall decline in the

teen birth rate since 1970 (although

preliminary data for 2006 show a 3%

increase in the teen birth rate compared

with 2005) (7). In 1970, the teen birth

rate was 68.3 (births per thousand

women 15–19 years of age). It declined

to 51.5 in 1978, fluctuated between 50.2

and 53.0 until 1988, rose to 61.8 in

1991, then experienced a steady decline

through 2005 where it reached a low of

40.4 (8) rising in 2006 to 41.9 (7). Since

teenage mothers historically were most

likely to relinquish their infants for

adoption, this has had a significant

effect on the number of infants available

for adoption. Lastly, legislation requiring

that reasonable efforts be made to

preserve and reunify families (e.g., The

Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare

Act of 1980), and to give preference to

placement of children with relatives who

meet state standards for child safety

(e.g., The Personal Responsibility and

Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of

1996) have also limited the number of

infants available to nonrelatives for

adoption (9). The combined impact of

these societal changes and legislative

actions has been a decline in the number

of native-born infants and young

children available for adoption with

little expectation that relinquishment

rates will rise to meet the current level

of demand (10).

Because of the decrease in the

domestic supply of infants and children

available for adoption, more affluent

women and couples have increasingly

sought to adopt children from other

countries. Between 1990 and 2001, the

number of children adopted from other

countries has increased from 7,093 to

19,237 (11). Although the total number

of adoptions in the United States

remained relatively steady over this

period, between 118,000 and 127,000

annually, the proportion that were

international increased threefold from

5% in 1992 to 15% in 2001 (12). In

2000, of the 65.6 million children under

18 years of age in the United States,

about 2.5% (1.6 million) were adopted

(13).

It is difficult to assess whether there

has been a change in the demand for

children to adopt in the last 30 years.

There are no national statistics on the

number of individuals and couples

seeking to adopt children—most

adoption data are limited to finalized

adoptions (12,14,15). If the percentage

of women who have ever adopted is

used as a proxy for demand, analysis of

data from prior cycles of the NSFG

indicate that demand may have

declined—the overall percentage of

women who have ever adopted a child

has declined slightly since 1973 (16).

Adoption is also used to legalize the

relationship between a nonbiological, de

facto parent and a child. Raising and

caring for stepchildren, related children,

or foster children are situations that can
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 3

lead to the adoption of these children by

individuals and couples.

Since 1973, the NSFG has been a

unique and valuable source of data for

studying the individual-level

determinants of the adoption experience

and for documenting trends in aspects of

adoption for which no other national

data are available. Data provided by the

NSFG includes information on

relinquishment of infants for adoption,

whether the woman had ever adopted a

child (related or not), characteristics of

women seeking to adopt children, and

the relationship between infertility and

adoption. Analyses of previous cycles of

the NSFG were restricted to evermarried women because the numbers of

never-married women who had adopted

a child or who had considered adopting

a child were too small to make reliable

estimates (16). By 2002, when Cycle 6

data were collected, sufficient numbers

of never-married women had adopted a

child, had sought to adopt a child, and

had taken steps to adopt to calculate

reliable national estimates and are,

therefore, included in this report. For

comparison with Chandra et al (16) and

earlier reports, data are presented for

ever-married women as well as all

women.

For the first time in Cycle 6, men

were surveyed in the NSFG and their

experience with adopting a child is

included here. A future report will focus

more broadly on all men and women

who are raising nonbiological children,

regardless of the adoption status of the

children, and will include information

on the relationship of the child to the

adult.

Methods

The NSFG Cycle 6 was conducted

from mid-March 2002 through the end

of February 2003. Households and

respondents were selected from a

nationally representative, multistage area

probability sample drawn from 121

areas across the country. The final data

file consists of 12,571 interviews—

7,643 with females and 4,928 with

males who were 15–44 years of age.

The overall response rate for the 2002

survey was 79%, the response rate for

females was 80%, and for men it was

78%. The interviews were conducted in

the respondents’ homes on laptop

computers. The majority of the

questions were asked by an interviewer

who recorded the responses into the

laptop. For the most sensitive questions,

the respondent accessed the computer

directly, by reading the question on the

screen and/or listening to it through

headphones and then entering his or her

response directly into the laptop.

Detailed information about the methods

and procedures of the NSFG is provided

in separate reports (17,18).

The numbers, percentages, averages,

and other statistics shown in this report

are weighted national estimates. The

weights account for different sampling

rates and for nonresponse bias and are

adjusted to agree with population

control totals provided by the U.S.

Census Bureau. (See Lepkowski, et al.

(18) for detailed information about

sampling and weighting procedures.) In

this report, percentages are rounded to

one decimal place and numbers are

weighted and given in thousands.

Numbers calculated from the tables in

this report may differ slightly from

those in the text because of rounding.

Because adoption remains relatively

rare in the United States, many

percentages are based on relatively

small population groups and differences

among subgroups, which may appear to

be significant, are not. Analyses based

on small numbers of unweighted cases

have standard errors that can be

relatively large, so that differences

between categories should be interpreted

with caution. Standard errors are

presented in each table for ease of

between-group comparisons.

Differences between subgroup

percentages were assessed using

two-tailed t-tests. Because of the rarity

of adoption and adoption-seeking

behaviors noted previously—creating

small cell sizes by subgroup—

differences between percentages were

evaluated at the .10 level as well as the

.05 level. Terms such as ‘‘greater than’’

and ‘‘less than’’ indicate that the

difference is statistically significant at

the .05 level, while the phrase, ‘‘the data

suggest,’’ indicates that the difference

was significant at the .10 level. In this

report, percentages are not shown if the

denominator is less than 50 cases or the

numerator is less than 3 cases. When a

percentage is not shown for this reason,

the tables contain an asterisk (*) that

indicates ‘‘Figure does not meet

standards of reliability or precision.’’ No

adjustments were made for multiple

comparisons. Additional information

regarding the effects of truncating and

rounding, statistical testing, and the

calculation of standard errors can be

found in ‘‘Appendix I.’’

This report shows findings by

demographic and health characteristics

of the man or woman at the time of the

interview. Demographic characteristics

include age, marital status, education,

parity, Hispanic origin and race, and

household income as a percentage of the

poverty level. Health characteristics

include fecundity status and ever use of

infertility services. Education results are

limited to respondents 22–44 years of

age so that 4-year college degrees may

potentially be reported; many

respondents younger than 22 may still

be in school. Poverty level of the

household is generally shown only for

those 20–44 years of age because

teenagers are less likely to report

household income accurately. The

definition of Hispanic origin and race

takes into account the reporting of more

than one race, in accordance with the

1997 Office of Management and Budget

(OMB) guidelines (for additional detail,

see Chandra et al. (19) Appendix II).

To examine trends between 1995

and 2002 in current and lifetime

adoption demand, the data previously

published for 1995 (16) were

recomputed for Tables 9 and 10. This

was done for a number of reasons. First,

this report uses data from more women

from the 1995 survey. The variable used

to select women 18–44 years of age in

the 1995 report measured the woman’s

age as of April 1, 1995; this report

selected women who were 18–44 years

of age at the time of interview. Second,

in 2002 there were not sufficient

numbers of women in the younger ages

(18–24) or at higher parities (2 or more)

that had ever taken or were currently

taking steps to adopt to analyze;

therefore, the age variable is grouped
Page 4 [ Series 23, No. 27

differently and parity is dichotomized.

Third, this report displays race and

Hispanic origin per the most recent

OMB standards (revisions issued

October 1997), whereas Chandra et al.

(16) reported race according to the 1977

OMB standards. And, lastly, the 1995

report used follow-up questions in

constructing ‘‘ever took steps’’ and

‘‘currently taking steps’’ that were not

available in 2002; the 1995 ‘‘steps’’

variables in Tables 9 and 10 of this

report were reconstructed without the

follow-up questions to facilitate

comparability with 2002 data.

For Table 1, however, the

1995 percentages were NOT recomputed

and the 2002 percentages were

calculated using the same standards and

definitions of prior reports (16) rather

than the current standards and

categorizes used in other tables in this

report. This was done to maintain the

continuity of the reporting of these

variables extending back to 1973.

Because adoption is extremely rare

among women under 18 and because

women under age 18 were not asked

about their care of nonbiological

children or their adoption experiences,

this report focuses on the adoption

experiences of women 18–44 years of

age among all and ever-married women

and men. Additionally, although

never-married women are less likely to

consider adoption or to adopt than

married women, trends in delaying and

foregoing marriage among women of

childbearing age (20) has led to an

increase in adoption and adoption

seeking behaviors by never-married

women so they, too, are included in

these analyses.

Collection of Adoption

Information from Women

Although the core question about

adopting a child has been asked in each

cycle of the NSFG, the series of

questions in which adoption information

is obtained has grown dramatically from

the two questions asked in Cycle 1

(1973) (see Text boxes 1 and 2 for the

questions asked in each cycle). Earlier

cycles asked about a woman’s adoption

experience in general. Beginning in

Cycle 5 (1995) and continuing in Cycle

6 (2002), adoption information was

collected mainly in the context of

nonbiological children that had lived

with or were living with the woman,

under her care and responsibility. To

obtain complete information about

women’s adoption seeking, each woman

was asked whether she was currently

seeking to adopt a child not living in

her household. Women who were not

currently seeking to adopt were asked

whether they had ever considered

adopting a child who had not lived with

them at any time in the past.

As displayed in Text box 2, there

are three sets of questions in the Cycle

6 NSFG that ask a woman about her

adoption experiences. The first series

asks the woman about any nonbiological

children who have lived or are living

with her, under her care and

responsibility, including children not

currently living in her household. The

second set of questions determines her

current adoption plans and behaviors.

And, a third series of questions was

asked only of women who were not

currently seeking to adopt a child.

Using information from these three

series of questions, four measures of the

‘‘demand’’ for adoption were created.

These are:

1.	 Ever considered adoption. Coded

‘‘yes’’ if the woman:

a. Had ever adopted or was

currently trying to adopt a

nonbiological child who was living

with her,

b. Was currently seeking to adopt

a/another child (other than those

who were living with her), or

c. Had ever considered adopting a

child.

2.	 Ever took steps to adopt. Coded

‘‘yes’’ if the woman:

a. Had ever adopted or was

currently trying to adopt a

nonbiological child who was living

with her,

b. Was currently seeking to adopt

a/another child (other than those

who were living with her) and had

placed a newspaper ad or contacted

an agency or other source,

c. Had ever considered adopting a

child and had ever contacted an

agency or other source, or

d. Was currently seeking to adopt

a/another child (other than those

who were living with her), had not

placed a newspaper ad or contacted

an agency, and was seeking to

adopt a child she knew.

3.	 Currently seeking to adopt. Coded

‘‘yes’’ if the woman:

a. Was currently trying to adopt a

nonbiological child who was living

with her, or

b. Was currently seeking to adopt

a/another child (other than those

who live with her).

4.	 Currently taking steps to adopt.

Coded ‘‘yes’’ if the woman:

a. Was currently trying to adopt a

nonbiological child who was living

with her,

b. Was currently seeking to adopt

a/another child (other than those

who were living with her) and had

placed a newspaper ad or contacted

an agency or other source, or

c. Was currently seeking to adopt

a/another child (other than those

who were living with her), had not

placed a newspaper ad or contacted

an agency, and was seeking to

adopt a child she knew.

Figure 1 traces the number of

women who had ever considered

adopting a child through those who had

adopted a child (category 1 [ever

considered] → category 2 [ever took

steps] → adopted). It shows increasingly

smaller subsets of women at each

step—about one-third of all women

18–44 years of age had ever considered

adoption; of these, about one-sixth had

taken steps to adopt. And, of these,

about one-fourth had actually adopted a

child. So, although 18.5 million women

had ever considered adopting a child,

0.6 million had done so. In a similar

fashion, Figure 2 displays the current

adoption demand (category 1 [ever

considered] → category 3 [currently

seeking] → category 4 [currently taking
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 5

Text box 1: Questions asked of women regarding adoption in 1973, 1982, 1988, and 1995

Cycle 1 (1973): Asked of all currently or formerly married women

Have you adopted any children?

If ‘‘Yes’’ she was asked:

How many children have you adopted?

Cycle 3 (1982): Asked of all women

(In addition to the child/children born to you), have you adopted any children?

If ‘‘Yes’’ she was asked:

How many children have you adopted?

For each adopted child, the woman was asked:

Thinking now about the (first/second/etc.) child you adopted, what was the child’s date of birth?
 

What was the child’s age when you took responsibility for him or her?
 

Before the adoption, what was this child’s relationship to you, if any?
 

Was he or she born in the United States or a foreign country?
 

Cycle 4 (1988): Asked of all women

(In addition to the child/children born to you), have you adopted any children?

If ‘‘Yes’’ she was asked:

How many children have you adopted?

For each adopted child, the woman was asked:

Thinking now about the (first/second/etc.) child you adopted, what was the child’s relationship to you, if any, before
 

the adoption?
 

Was he or she born in the United States or a foreign country?
 

What was the child’s date of birth?
 

In what month and year did he or she begin living with you?
 

Was the adoption arranged through. . .
 

A public agency
 

Through a private agency
 

Or in some other way?
 

Have you ever contacted an adoption agency or lawyer about adopting a(nother) child?

If ‘‘Yes’’ she was asked:

What steps, if any, have you taken toward adopting a(nother) child.
 

Have you . . .
 

A. Formally applied to an adoption agency?

B. Engaged a lawyer to make arrangements for an adoption?

If yes to A or B:

C. Had a home study completed?

D. Had a child come to live with you in preparation for adoption?
 

At this time, are you still actively seeking to adopt a(nother) child?
 

steps to adopt]). It shows that the

majority of women who are currently

seeking to adopt a child have actually

taken steps to do so; approximately

one-half million women were actively

seeking to adopt a child in 2002.

Because fewer questions were asked

in Cycle 6 than in Cycle 5 regarding

actual steps taken, ever and currently,

and whether the woman would consider

adopting in the future, comparisons with

Figures 2 and 3 in Chandra et al. (16)

cannot be made. In both 1995 and 2002,

these two general questions, ‘‘Did you

ever contact an adoption agency, a

lawyer, a doctor, or other source about

adopting a child?’’ and ‘‘Have you

placed a newspaper ad or contacted an

adoption agency, a lawyer, a doctor, or

other source about adopting a(nother)

child?’’ were asked. However, in 1995,

two series of follow-up questions were

asked of women who had answered

‘‘yes’’ to the general questions. These

follow-up questions are shown in Text

box 3. In the previous report, it was

necessary for a woman to respond

‘‘yes’’ to one or more of these additional

questions to be classified as ever taken

steps or currently taking steps.

Additionally, Chandra et al. (16) did not

include women who were seeking to

adopt a child they knew in the count of

those who were currently seeking to

adopt. For this report, these two

variables, ever taken steps and currently

taking steps, were recomputed for 1995

to make comparisons between the two

years meaningful.
Page 6 [ Series 23, No. 27

Text box 2: Question asked of women in 1995 and 2002 regarding actual and planned adoptions

Series 1: Asked of all women

‘‘Not counting the children born to you, have any children lived with you under your care and responsibility?’’

If ‘‘Yes,’’ she was asked:

‘‘How many children?’’

In both 1995 and 2002: For each child, the woman was asked to provide the child’s sex; the relationship of the child to the

woman when he or she first began to live in the woman’s household; whether the child was placed in her home by a social

service agency; whether the woman adopted the child; whether the woman was currently trying to adopt the child; the

child’s date of birth; the date the child first started living with the woman; whether the child still lived in the woman’s

household; the child’s Hispanic origin and race; whether the child was born in the United States or a foreign country; and

whether the child had a disability.

Asked in 1995 only: How the adoption was arranged; whether the child was still alive and, if not, when the child died; and if

the child was no longer living with the woman, when he or she stopped living with her.

Asked in 2002 only: Whether the woman became or was currently trying to become the child’s legal guardian.

Series 2: Asked of all women

‘‘The next questions are about any plans you currently have to adopt a child. Not counting children who have lived with

you or children who live with you now, are you currently seeking to adopt a child?’’

If ‘‘Yes,’’ she was asked:

‘‘Have you placed a newspaper ad or contacted an adoption agency, a lawyer, doctor or other source about adopting a

child?’’

‘‘How long have you been seeking to adopt a child? Has it been . . .

Less than 1 year

1–2 years

Or longer than 2 years?’’

‘‘Are you seeking to adopt a child whom you know?’’

Asked in 1995 only: If the woman had contacted an agency, lawyer or doctor, she was asked whether she had specifically

contacted an adoption agency, engaged a lawyer to make arrangements, placed a newspaper ad, or taken any other steps

toward adopting a child.

Series 3: Asked only of women who were not currently seeking to adopt a child

‘‘Have you ever considered adopting a child?’’

If ‘‘Yes,’’ she was asked whether she had ever contacted an adoption agency, lawyer, doctor or other source about adopting a

child; whether she had been turned down, had been unable to find a child or decided not to pursue adoption; and, if she had

decided not to pursue adoption, the reasons why she decided to stop.

Asked in 1995 only: If the woman had contacted an agency, lawyer or doctor, she was asked whether she had specifically

contacted an adoption agency, engaged a lawyer to make arrangements, placed a newspaper ad, or taken any other steps

toward adopting a child.

Characteristics of the

Adopted Child That

Women Would Prefer

Women who were currently seeking

to adopt a child not known to them were

asked a series of questions regarding

characteristics of children they would

prefer to adopt and, if there was an

adoptable child having an alternate

characteristic, whether they would adopt

that child. These questions are used to

characterize current demand for

unrelated children. The specific

questions and detailed routing is found

in Text box 4.

Relinquishment of Infants

for Adoption at Birth

Relinquishment data are captured as

part of each woman’s pregnancy history.

Women were asked to report on the

outcome of each of their pregnancies,

including the name of the child or

children born. In a few instances, the

woman did not provide a name for the

baby during the interview, but indicated

that the baby had died or had been

relinquished for adoption. These babies

are considered ‘‘unnamed.’’ Other

women ‘‘named’’ the children they

relinquished and used these names to

refer to the children during the
Text box 3: Follow-up questions asked in 1995, not asked in 2002

Women who had ever contacted an adoption agency, lawyer or doctor, or other source about adopting a child were asked the

following series of questions to determine what steps they had taken to adopt:

‘‘What specific steps, if any, have you taken toward adopting a child? Have you. . .’’
 

‘‘formally applied to an adoption agency?’’
 

‘‘engaged a lawyer to make arrangements for an adoption?’’
 

‘‘placed a newspaper ad?’’
 

‘‘Have you taken any (other) steps toward adopting a child?’’
 

‘‘What steps have you taken/did you take?’’
 

‘‘In what month and year did you first take steps toward adopting a child?’’
 

They were also asked:

‘‘Might you still consider adopting in the future?’’

Never took steps 

All women: 85.7% 

N = 15,822,000 (2,053) 

Ever married: 83.2% 

N = 10,674,000 (1,266) 

Ever considered adoption1 

All women: 33.1% 

N = 18,465,000 (2,374) 

Ever-married women: 35.8% 

N = 12,823,000 (1,517) 

Ever took steps 

All women: 14.3% 

N = 2,643,000 (321) 

Ever married: 16.8% 

N = 2,150,000 (251) 

Adopted 

All women: 23.2% 

N = 614,000 (58) 

Ever married: 23.6% 

N = 507,000 (45) 

Did not adopt 

All women: 76.8% 

N = 2,029,000 (263) 

Ever married: 76.4% 

N = 1,643,000 (206) 

1

33.1% of all 55,742,000 women 18–44 years of age; 35.8% of all 35,845,000 ever-married women 18–44 years of age. 

NOTE: Percentages and numbers are weighted, national estimates. Unweighted numbers of interviews are in parentheses. 

SOURCE: CDC/NCHS, National Survey of Family Growth Cycle 6 (2002). 

Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 7

Figure 1. Outcome of ever considering adoption among all women and ever-married

women, 18–44 years of age: United States, 2002

interview. Chandra et al (16) defined who were relinquished within the first

infant relinquishment as babies who month of the baby’s life, in addition to

were unnamed by their birth mothers babies who were placed for adoption

and placed for adoption. For this report, without being named by the birth

the definition of relinquishment at birth mother. This is a slightly broader

includes infants definition of relinquishment compared

with the earlier report and is based, in

part, on recommendations of Testa and

Falconnier (21) in a study conducted

under contract for the NSFG.

Collection of Adoption

Information from Men

Men were asked about their

adoption of children in the context of

their relationships with women, both

marriages and cohabitations. For his

relationships with his current wife or

cohabiting partner; his first and his three

most recent sexual partners, if he had

been married to or lived with them; and

any former wives and his first

cohabiting partner, if not discussed

previously, he was asked whether she

had brought any children into the

relationship and whether there were

other nonbiological children that had

been under his and her care and

responsibility. If she had brought

children into the relationship and/or if

during the relationship any other

nonbiological children had lived with

him and this partner under his care and

responsibility, he was asked if he had

adopted any of them.

Following the partner-specific

questions, he was asked whether there

were other nonbiological children for

whom he had cared and whether he had

adopted any of these children. See Text

box 5 for the specific questions asked of

men.
Page 8 [ Series 23, No. 27

Ever considered adoption1 

All women: 33.1% 

N = 18,465,000 (2,374) 

Ever-married women: 35.8% 

N = 12,823,000 (1,517) 

Ever adopted, 

not currently seeking to adopt 

All women: 3.1% 

N = 564,000 (52) 

Ever married: 3.6% 

N = 464,000 (40) 

Currently seeking to adopt, 

may have adopted previously 

All women: 4.9% 

N = 901,000 (131) 

Ever-married women: 5.6% 

N = 716,000 (99) 

Never adopted, 

not currently seeking to adopt 

All women: 92.1% 

N = 17,000,000 (2,191) 

Ever-married women: 90.8% 

N = 11,644,000 (1,378) 

1

33.1% of all 55,742,000 women 18–44 years of age; 35.8% of all 35,845,000 ever-married women 18–44 years of age. 

NOTE: Percentages and numbers are weighted, national estimates. Unweighted numbers of interviews are in parentheses. 

SOURCE: CDC/NCHS, National Survey of Family Growth Cycle 6 (2002). 

Currently seeking, 

has taken steps 

All women: 62.2% 

N = 560,000 (76) 

Ever married: 66.9% 

N = 479,000 (63) 

Currently seeking, 

has not taken steps 

All women: 37.9% 

N = 341,000 (55) 

Ever married: 33.1% 

N = 237,000 (36) 

Figure 2. Current adoption demand among all women and ever-married women, 18–44 years of age: United States, 2002

Results
 

Ever Adopted a Child

Overall, 2.0% of the adult

population, 18–44 years of age, had

adopted a child as of 2002. Figure 3

shows that, of these 2%, twice as many

were men (67%) than women (33%) and

most adopters had either fathered a child

or had given birth (77%).

Women’s adoption experiences

Table 1 repeats and extends Table 1

from Chandra et al. (16) and reports on

the characteristics of ever-married

women who had adopted a child at the

time of the interview. To maintain

continuity with this and other, previous

reports (22–24) and in contrast to

subsequent tables that only compare

1995 and 2002 data, this table uses

measures of women’s characteristics that

were computed to be consistent with the

previous reports. For example, Hispanic

origin and race were constructed using

1977, rather than the 1997, OMB

guidelines. Table 1 shows that the

percentage of ever-married women who

had ever adopted a child has not

significantly changed since 1995: 1.4%

of ever-married women had adopted a

child in 2002 compared with 1.3% in

1995. The characteristics of women who

had adopted in 2002 are similar to the

characteristics of women who had

adopted in previous cycles: they are

more likely to be 40–44 years of age,

currently married, nulliparous, to have

used infertility services, have impaired

fecundity, and have incomes above

150% of the poverty level.

The percentage of all and

ever-married women 18–44 years of age

in 2002 who had ever adopted a child at

the time of their interview by selected

characteristics is shown in Table 2. By

ages 40–44, 2.9% of all women and

2.9% of ever-married women had

adopted a child. Slightly more than 3%

of women in their second or later

marriage had adopted a child. The

proportion of women who had adopted a

child increased with age and for

higher-order marriages. Table 2 also

shows that 0.5% or about 100,000

never-married women had adopted a

child.

Among ever-married women, the

data suggest that those who had not

given birth (3.2%) (nulliparous) were

more likely to have adopted than

women who had given birth (1.0%).

Women who had used infertility services
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 9

Text box 4: Characteristics of children women would prefer or accept when seeking to adopt

Women currently seeking to adopt a child not known to them were asked the following series of questions:

‘‘If you could choose exactly the child you wanted, would you prefer to adopt . . .

a boy or a girl?

a black child, a white child, or a child of some other race?

a child younger than 2 years, a child 2 to 5 years old, a child 6 to 12 years old, or a child 13 years old or older?

a child with no disability, a child with a mild disability, or a child with a severe disability?

a single child or 2 or more brothers and sisters at once?’’

An allowable response for each of these questions was ‘‘Indifferent.’’ But, if she expressed a preference for a characteristic,

she was asked if she would accept a child with an alternate characteristic. These questions took the form:

‘‘Would you accept . . .

a girl? (if preferred a boy)

a boy? (if preferred a girl)

a black child? (if preferred a white child or a child of some other race)

a white child?(if preferred a black child or a child of some other race)

a child of some other race, neither black nor white? (if preferred a black or a white child)

a child younger than 2 years? (if preferred a child 2 to 5 years old, a child 6 to 12 years old, or a child 13 years

old or older)

a child 2 to 5 years old?(if preferred a child younger than 2 years, a child 6 to 12 years old, or a child 13 years

old or older)

a child 6 to 12 years old? (if preferred a child younger than 2 years, a child 2 to 5 years old, or a child 13 years

old or older)

a child 13 years old or older? (if preferred a child younger than 2 years, a child 2 to 5 years old, or a child 6 to 12

years old)

a child with no disability? (if preferred a child with a mild disability or a child with a severe disability)

a child with a mild disability? (if preferred a child with no disability or a child with a severe disability)

a child with a severe disability? ( if preferred a child with no disability or a child with a mild disability)

a single child? (if preferred 2 or more brothers and sisters at once)

2 or more brothers and sisters at once? (if preferred a single child)’’

were more likely to have adopted a

child than those who had not used these

services; this was true of all women and

ever-married women.

Adoption experience also varies by

women’s fecundity status. A larger

proportion of women who were

surgically sterile or who had impaired

fecundity had adopted a child compared

with women who were fecund. Although

educational attainment was not a factor

in whether women had adopted children,

a larger percentage of women with

incomes between 150 and 299% of the

poverty level had adopted compared

with women with incomes less than

150% of poverty. Among all women,

non-Hispanic white women were more

likely to have adopted a child compared

with Hispanic women; differences

among ever-married women are

significant at the .10 level. Although the

data suggest that a larger percentage of

all or ever-married, non-Hispanic black

women compared with Hispanic women

had adopted a child, the differences in

percentages are not significant due to

the relatively large standard errors.

Table 3 looks at women who had

adopted a child by age, parity, and use

of infertility services. As would be

expected, the group with the highest

proportion who had adopted children

was women 40–44 years of age, who

had used infertility services, and who

had never given birth. The smallest

percentages were for women under 35

years of age who had not used infertility

services.

Men’s experience with adoption

Table 4 presents the percentage of

all men and ever-married men who had

ever adopted a child by selected

characteristics. Overall, 2.3% of all men,

18–44 years of age, and 3.8% of

ever-married men had adopted a child.

Looking at all men (columns 1–3), men

aged 29 and younger (0.6%) and men

who have never been married (0.3%)

were significantly less likely to have

adopted a child compared with men 30

years of age or older (range 3.2% to

3.8%) and men who were currently

(4.0%) or formerly married (3.0%).

These findings are generally similar to

what is shown in Table 2 for all women.

In contrast to all women, however, all

men who had fathered one or more

biological children were more likely to

have adopted a child (3.9%) than men

who had not fathered a child (0.6%).

The difference between these groups for

ever-married men is in the same

direction, although not statistically

significant.
Page 10 [ Series 23, No. 27

Text box 5: Questions asked of men regarding adoption of children
 

Series 1: Asked of men who had married or cohabited for each marriage or cohabiting relationship:
 

‘‘Now I would like to ask you about any other children, whether biological, adopted, foster or legally guarded

children, that (NAME) may have had. Please be sure to include all of her children, even if they never lived with

you. When you began living with (NAME), did she have any children?

If ‘‘Yes,’’ he was asked:

How many children did she have?
 

Did you legally adopt this child/any of these children?
 

How many of these children did you legally adopt?
 

For each adopted child, the man was asked the child’s sex, where the child currently lived, and the child’s current age.

Series 2: Asked of men who had married or cohabited for each marriage or cohabiting relationship:

Besides any children that we may have talked about already, have you and your (wife/partner) ever had any other

children live with you under your care and responsibility?

If ‘‘Yes,’’ he was asked:

How many children?
 

Did you legally adopt this child/any of these children?
 

How many of these children did you legally adopt?
 

For each adopted child, the man was asked the child’s sex, where the child currently lived, and the child’s current age.

Series 3: Asked of all men:

The next question is about children who may have lived with you under your care and responsibility. By this I

mean that you served as a formal or informal guardian to the child or that you were chiefly responsible for the

child’s care. Have you ever had any children like this under your care and responsibility?

If ‘‘Yes,’’ he was asked:

How many children have ever lived with you under your care and responsibility?
 

Did you legally adopt this child/any of these children under your care and responsibility?
 

How many children did you legally adopt?
 

For each identified child, the man was asked the child’s sex, where the child currently lived, and the child’s current age.

Population, 18–44 years 

Did not adopt 

a child 

98% 

Adopters 

Female, 

parous 

18% 

Adopted 

a child 2% Female, 

Male, not
 

fathered
 

a child
 

8%
 

Male, 

fathered 

a child 

59% nulliparous 

15% 

NOTE: Total weighted population is 111,141,000 and total weighted number of adopters is 1,869,000. 

SOURCE: CDC/NCHS, National Survey of Family Growth Cycle 6 (2002). 

Figure 3. Percent distribution of women and men 18–44 years of age by adoption status

and percent distribution of adopters by sex and having given birth to or fathered a child:

United States, 2002

Comparing women’s and men’s

adoption experiences

Comparing Tables 2 and 4, two

covariates are seen to have opposite

effects for women and men—having

borne or fathered a child and having

used infertility services. The data in

Table 2 suggest that ever-married,

nulliparous women were more likely

than parous women to have adopted a

child (at the .10 level), and that women

who had used infertility services (all and

ever married) were significantly more

likely to have adopted a child than

women who had not used these services.

In contrast, Table 4 shows that for all

men having fathered one or more

children was significantly associated

with having adopted a child and the data
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 11

suggest that ever-married men who had

used infertility services were less likely

to have adopted a child (significant at

the .10 level) than those who had not

used infertility services. All of the other

covariates are associated in a similar

fashion for women and men.

Demand for Adoption

In this report, percentages are

calculated on the population ‘‘at-risk’’ of

the behavior. For instance, in Table 5 all

women are ‘‘at risk’’ of having ever

considered adopting a child—that is, any

woman, 18–44 years of age, could

indicate that she had ever considered

adoption—and results for all women are

presented in columns 1–3. In columns

4–6, however, only women who

indicated that they had ever considered

adoption are ‘‘at risk’’ of having taken

steps to adopt and only these women are

included in the denominator of those

who took steps (33.1% of the 55.7

million women, or 18.5 million women

18–44 years of age). The same applies

for ever-married women in Table 6: of

the 35.8 million ever-married women in

2002 (columns 1–3), 35.8% or 12.8

million were asked whether they had

taken steps to adopt (columns 4–6).

These sets of columns illustrate the

increased selectivity associated with

each step in the adoption process.

The proportion of all women who

have ever taken steps to adopt, not

restricted to those who have ever

considered adoption, is 4.7% (derived

from Table 5). This percentage is

slightly higher than that published in

Chandra et al. (19) Table 8 (3.4%)

because a more liberal definition of

‘‘taking steps,’’ was used for this report.

The definition used here includes past

adoption of and current adoption

seeking of a nonbiological child living

in the woman’s household and is

comparable to that used in earlier

reports (1,16).

Lifetime adoption seeking behavior

by selected characteristics is shown for

all women (Table 5) and for evermarried women (Table 6); current

adoption seeking behaviors for all and

ever-married women, respectively, are

shown in Tables 7 and 8. These tables

provide estimates of the numbers of

U.S. women who have ever been or are

currently ‘‘in demand’’ for a child to

adopt, and the numbers of women who

have ever taken steps or are currently

taking steps to find and adopt a child by

subgroup within demographic or health

categories. Text box 6 provides a

reference for distinguishing among the

tables.

Ever considered adoption, ever

took steps to adopt, and ever

adopted

Overall, Tables 5 and 6 show that

similar proportions of women at all ages

had considered adopting a child in their

lifetimes. However, women (all and ever

married) 30 years and older were more

likely to have actually taken steps to

adopt than women 18–29 years of age.

Slightly more than one-fourth (28%) of

never-married women had ever

considered adoption; of these, 8.8%

(approximately 494,000 women) had

taken steps to adopt; and of nevermarried women who had ever taken

steps to adopt, 22% had adopted a child.

(See ‘‘Appendix I’’ for an explanation of

how rounding effects replicability of

figures from the numbers and

percentages presented in the tables.)

Women in their second or later

marriages who had ever considered

adoption were more likely to have taken

steps to adopt (26%) than women in

other marital status groups.

Table 5 shows that, for all women,

there is no significant difference by

parity in the percentages who had ever

considered adoption (35% for

nulliparous and 32% for parous women)

although parous women were more

likely to have taken steps to adopt.

Among ever-married women (Table 6),

nulliparous women were more likely to

have considered adoption (49%)

compared with parous women (33%),

but there is no difference by parity on

whether they took steps to adopt (18%

for nulliparous and 16% for parous

women).

All women who had ever used

infertility services (57%) or who had

impaired fecundity (52%) were more

likely to have considered adoption

compared with all women who had not

used infertility services (30%), who

were fecund (30%), or who were

surgically sterile (33%). Of all women

who had ever considered adoption,

women who had used infertility services

(28%), who had impaired fecundity

(24%), or were surgically sterile (23%)

are shown to be more likely to have

taken steps to adopt compared with

women who had not used infertility

services (10%) or who were fecund

(7%). These patterns are similar for

ever-married women as shown in

Table 6.

Looking at the combined effect of

fecundity status and use of infertility

services, Figure 4 shows that 7 out of 10

women who had impaired fecundity and

who had ever used infertility services

had also considered adopting a child, a

significantly higher proportion than

women in any other category. This may

be explained in part because these

women strongly desire a child

(biological or unrelated) and, even

though they have used infertility

services, the difficulty conceiving and/or

carrying a pregnancy to full term

remains. Relatively similar percentages

of women who were surgically sterile or

fecund had considered adopting a child

by use of infertility services.

Women without a high school

diploma and women with incomes

below 150% of the poverty level were

less likely than women with a high

school diploma or GED or more or

women whose incomes were over 300%

of the poverty level to have considered

adoption. For all women who had ever

considered adoption, there is no

significant difference by education or

income as to whether they have ever

taken steps to adopt. Tables 5 and 6

further show that for all women and for

ever-married women there are no

significant differences by Hispanic

origin or race in the proportion of

women who had ever considered

adopting a child or who had ever taken

steps to adopt. There are differences by

income and by Hispanic origin and race

in the percentage of women who had

ever taken steps to adopt that had ever

adopted a child. Table 5 shows that, of

all women who had ever taken steps to

adopt, women with incomes above

150% of the poverty level and women

who are non-Hispanic white are
Page 12 [ Series 23, No. 27

Text box 6. Guide to tables

Ever-married women All women

Lifetime adoption

experience Tables 1, 2, 6, 9, 13 Tables 2, 3, 5, 11

Current adoption

behaviors Tables 8, 10, 14 Tables 7, 12, 15

Never-married women

Relinquished baby

for adoption Table 16

Ever-married men All men

Lifetime adoption

experience Table 4 Table 4

significantly more likely to have

adopted a child compared with women

with incomes below 150% of poverty or

women of Hispanic origin.

Figure 5 shows that there are

differences by income for Hispanic

women and for non-Hispanic black

women: Hispanic and non-Hispanic

black women with incomes below 149%

of poverty were significantly less likely

to have ever considered adopting a child

compared with women of the same

racial or ethnic background with

incomes at or above 300% of poverty.

There are no differences by income for

non-Hispanic white women.

Currently seeking to adopt and

currently taking steps

Tables 7 and 8 display information

on women’s current adoption behaviors.

Overall, 1.6% of all women (Table 7)

and 2.0% of ever-married women

(Table 8) were currently seeking to

adopt. Because the number of

unweighted cases that these analyses are

based on is small and the computed

standard errors are large (relative to the

percentages), differences between

categories in this section should be

interpreted cautiously as even large

differences in percentages may not be

statistically significant. Among women

who were currently seeking to adopt,

about two-thirds were taking steps (62%

of all women and 67% of ever-married

women). Looking at all women in

Table 7, never-married women (0.9%)

were significantly less likely to be

currently seeking to adopt than those

who were currently married (2.0%).

Because of the large standard error

associated with the percentage of

women in their second or later

marriages who are seeking to adopt

(3.5%), the data suggest that these

women are more likely to be seeking to

adopt a child compared with nevermarried women (significant at the .10

level).

There is no difference by parity for

all women in the percentages currently

seeking to adopt (Table 7), but for

ever-married women (Table 8) there is a

difference by parity: nulliparous women

were more likely to be currently seeking

to adopt a child (4.1%) than parous

women (1.6%). Although parity alone is

not a significant indicator of current

adoption seeking behavior of all women,

in combination with ever use of

infertility services, Figure 6 shows that

women who had not given birth to a

child and had used infertility services

were 3.5 times more likely to be

currently seeking to adopt a child than

women who had given birth and had

used infertility services and nearly 10

times as likely as women who had never

used infertility services.

All women and ever-married

women who had ever used infertility

services or who had impaired fecundity

were more likely to be currently seeking

to adopt than women who had not used

infertility services, who were fecund, or

who were surgically sterile (Tables 7

and 8). As shown previously, there is a

joint effect of fecundity status and

infertility: women with impaired

fecundity who had used infertility

services were significantly more likely

to be currently seeking to adopt a child

than women in other categories

(Figure 7).

There are no differences by

education or income in women’s current

adoption behaviors. There are, however,

differences by Hispanic origin and race.

The numbers presented in Table 7 for all

women show that Hispanic and

non-Hispanic black women were more

likely to be currently seeking to adopt

compared with non-Hispanic white

women. Looking at ever-married women

in Table 8, non-Hispanic black women

were more likely than non-Hispanic

white women to be currently seeking to

adopt. The data in Table 8 also suggest

that Hispanic women were more likely

to be currently seeking to adopt

compared with non-Hispanic white

women. The number of women who are

currently taking steps to adopt is too

small to make comparisons among

subgroups of all or ever-married women.

Changes in lifetime and current

adoption demand by ever-married

women between 1995 and 2002 are

depicted in Tables 9 and 10. They are

modeled after Chandra et al. (16)

Table 2, but the percentages for 1995

were recomputed for this report as

outlined in the ‘‘Methods’’ section.

Table 9 indicates that, compared

with 1995, substantially more

ever-married women in 2002 had ever

considered adopting a child—36% of

ever-married women in 2002 compared

with 26% in 1995. However, a smaller

percentage of women in 2002 who had

considered adoption actually took steps

to adopt (17%) compared with women

in 1995 (24%). In 1995, there was no

group of women where more than

one-half had ever considered adopting a

child. In 2002, 57% of women who had

ever used infertility services and 54% of

women with impaired fecundity had

considered adoption. Almost one-half of

nulliparous women (49%) had also

considered adopting a child in 2002.

There was a significant decrease in the

percentage taking steps to adopt

between 1995 and 2002 among currently

married women, women 40–44 years of

age, nulliparous women, fecund women,
Ever used infertility services Never used infertility services 

80 

71.1 

70
 

60
 

50.3 

50 46.9 

39.5 

40 

30.3 27.8 30 

20 

10
 

0
 

Surgically sterile Impaired fecundity Fecund 

SOURCE: CDC/NCHS, National Survey of Family Growth Cycle 6 (2002). Percent 

Figure 4. Percentage of all women 18–44 years of age who have ever considered adopting

a child by fecundity status and use of infertility services: United States, 2002	 

0% – 149% of poverty 150% – 299% of poverty 300% of poverty or more 

50 

26.2 

33.9 

41.0 

30.3 

33.6 35.3 

31.3 

35.4 

43.9 45 

40 

35 

30 

25

Percent 

20 

15 

10 

5 

0 

Hispanic Non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic black 

SOURCE: CDC/NCHS, National Survey of Family Growth Cycle 6 (2002). 

Figure 5. Percentage of all women 20–44 years of age who have ever considered adopting

a child by poverty level income and Hispanic origin and race: United States, 2002

women who had attended or completed

college, women with incomes of 300%

of the poverty level, and non-Hispanic

white women.

Turning to current adoption seeking,

Table 10 shows that in 2002

significantly more ever-married women

18–29 years of age were currently

seeking or planning to adopt a child

compared with ever-married women in

1995. More than twice as many

ever-married women who had ever used

infertility services or who had impaired

fecundity were currently seeking to

adopt a child in 2002 compared with the

same groups in 1995 (Table 10). There

were too few women currently taking

steps to adopt a child in 1995 or in

2002 to produce reliable subgroup

percentages on this dimension of

adoption seeking.

Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 13

Characteristics of Women

Who Seek To Adopt and

Take Steps to Adopt, Ever

and Currently

While previous tables give the

proportion of women within each

adoption behavior category

corresponding to a demographic or

health characteristic, Tables 11–14

provide profiles of the women who had

ever considered or sought to adopt, or

were currently considering or seeking

adoption. They show the distributions of

women in each adoption category by the

same demographic and health categories

as in previous tables. Table 11 presents

lifetime adoption and Table 12 current

adoption behavior for all women while

Tables 13 and 14 look at lifetime and

current adoption for ever-married

women. Percentages for ever-married

women are presented to maintain

continuity with previous reports. The

first column in each table represents the

distribution of the population of women

across the characteristic with standard

errors in the second column. Table 11

shows, for example, that of the 55.7

million women in the United States

between the ages of 18 and 44, 42%

were between 18 and 29 years of age in

2002. The next pair of columns is

restricted to women who had ever

considered adoption and the final pair to

those women who had ever taken steps

to adopt. Each pair of columns presents

distributions for progressively smaller

subsets of women (i.e., each pair is

based on an increasingly selective group

of women). These tables compare the

percentages in columns 3 with those in

column 1 and the percentages in column

5 with those in columns 1 and 3.

Comparing the distribution of

women who had ever considered

adoption (column 3) to the distribution

of all women (column 1), Table 11

shows that, among those who had ever

considered adoption, a significantly

larger percentage had used infertility

services (23% compared with 13%) or

had impaired fecundity (20% compared

with 13%) than found in the percent

distribution of all women 18–44 years

of age. Looking at the distribution of all

women who had ever considered and
Page 14 [ Series 23, No. 27

12 Ever used infertility services Never used infertility services 

9.7 10 

8 

6 

4 

2.7 

2 1.3 1.0 

0 

Parous Nulliparous 

Percent 

SOURCE: CDC/NCHS, National Survey of Family Growth Cycle 6 (2002). 

Figure 6. Percentage of all women 18–44 years currently seeking to adopt a child by parity

and use of infertility services: United States, 2002

Ever used infertility services Never used infertility services 

8 7.5 

6 

4 3.6 

3.0 

2.3 

1.9 

2 

0.6 

0 

Surgically sterile Impaired fecundity Fecund 

SOURCE: CDC/NCHS, National Survey of Family Growth Cycle 6 (2002). Percent 

Figure 7. Percentage of all women 18–44 years currently seeking to adopt a child by

fecundity status and use of infertility services: United States, 2002

had taken steps to adopt, column 5

shows that the distribution of women

who had ever taken steps to adopt

differs from both the distribution of all

women (column 1) and the distribution

of all women who had ever considered

adoption (column 3) by age, marital

status, parity, use of infertility services,

and fecundity status. Significantly larger

percentages of women who had ever

taken steps to adopt were in the age

categories 35–39 (30%) and 40–44 years

(34%) compared with the total

population (20% and 21% for the same

age groups). This is graphically

presented in Figure 8.

Larger proportions of all women

who had ever taken steps to adopt

(column 5) were currently married, in

their second or later marriage, had used

infertility services, and were surgically

sterile or had impaired fecundity

compared with the percent distribution

of all women (column 1). Women who

had taken steps were also different from

women who had ever considered

adoption (column 3) but not taken steps

on these dimensions and, additionally,

on parity—a larger percentage of

women who had taken steps to adopt a

child had also given birth to a child

compared with women who had only

considered adoption (70% compared

with 62%, respectively). There are no

significant differences by education,

income (as a percentage of the poverty

level), or Hispanic origin or race

between the percent distributions of

these two groups of women.

Turning to current adoption

behaviors, Table 12 shows that women

who were currently seeking to adopt

(column 3) and women who were

currently taking steps to adopt (column

5) were more likely to have used

infertility services (36% and 40%), to

have impaired fecundity (40% and

36%), and to be non-Hispanic black

(25% and 29%) compared with the

distribution of all women (column 1) in

these categories. Women currently

seeking or currently taking steps were

less likely to be fecund (27% and 23%)

or non-Hispanic white (45% of both)

compared with all women. Figure 9

compares lifetime and current adoption

seeking by fecundity status. It shows

that, of women who had ever considered

adoption, a larger proportion had

impaired fecundity compared with all

women and this percentage doubles

among current adoption seekers.

Although the distributions by age

and marital status did not differ between

all women and women currently seeking

to adopt, there is a difference between

all women and women who were

currently taking steps to adopt: higher

proportions of women who were

currently taking steps to adopt were

35–39 years of age (41%) and married

(70%) compared with all women. The

distributions of all women who were

currently taking steps to adopt and all

women who were currently seeking to

adopt do not differ significantly.

For comparison with Table 3 in

Chandra et al. (16), Tables 13 and 14

focus on ever-married women. They
100 

42 

18 

20 

21 

22 

41 

18 

22 

30 

34 

90 40–44 years 

80 

70 

60 35–39 years 

Percent

50 

40 

30 30–34 years 

20 

0 

14 18 

All women Ever took steps Currently taking 

to adopt steps to adopt 

NOTE: Numbers may not add to 100 percent because of rounding.
 

SOURCES: Tables 11 and 12 in this report.
 

10 18–29 years 

Figure 8. Percent distribution by age of all women, women who have ever taken steps to

adopt a child, and women who are currently taking steps to adopt a child, women 18–44

years of age: United States, 2002

100 

90 

61 

13 

26 

55 

20 

26 

27 

40 

33 Surgically 

80 sterile 

70 

60 

Percent

50 

40 

Impaired 

fecundity 

30 

20 

10 Fecund 

0 

All women Ever considered 

adoption 

Currently 

seeking to adopt 

NOTE: Numbers may not add to 100 percent 

SOURCES: Tables 11 and 12 in this report. 

because of rounding. 

Figure 9. Percent distribution by fecundity status of all women, women who have ever

considered adopting a child, and women who are currently seeking to adopt a child,

women 18–44 years of age: United States, 2002

show few differences across the

columns in the percent distributions by

age or marital status. Larger percentages

of ever-married women who had ever

considered adoption (Table 13) had not

given birth to a child (24%), had used

infertility services (29%), and had

impaired fecundity (22%) compared

with all women (18%, 18%, and 15%,

respectively). The distribution of

ever-married women who had ever

taken steps to adopt a child show larger

Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 15

proportions of women in their second or

later marriage, who had used infertility

services, and who had impaired

fecundity compared with the

distributions of all ever-married women

or ever-married women who had ever

considered adoption (columns 1 and 3).

Also, higher proportions of ever-married

women who had ever taken steps to

adopt were surgically sterile (compared

with those who had ever considered

adoption [at the .10 level]) and

nulliparous (compared with all

ever-married women).

Looking at current adoption seeking

behaviors, the distributions of women

currently seeking to adopt and currently

taking steps to adopt are similar

(Table 14). These distributions are

significantly different from the

distribution of all ever-married women

on parity, use of infertility services, and

impaired fecundity. Table 14 shows a

significant difference by race in the

distribution of women currently seeking

to adopt and currently taking steps to

adopt that was not seen in Table 13 on

lifetime adoption behaviors. Of

ever-married women currently seeking

to adopt, significantly fewer are

non-Hispanic white and significantly

more are non-Hispanic black women

compared with all ever-married women.

Non-Hispanic white women are also

underrepresented in the group of women

currently taking steps to adopt compared

with the distribution of ever-married

women by race and Hispanic origin, in

general. Because of small sample sizes,

the percentages have large relative

standard errors; therefore differences

between the group of ever-married

women who are currently taking steps to

adopt (column 5) and the group of

ever-married women who are currently

seeking to adopt (column 3) are not

significant.

Characteristics of the

Adopted Child That

Women Would Prefer

As described in the ‘‘Methods’’

section, women who were currently

seeking to adopt a child not known to

them were asked what characteristics

they would prefer in an adopted child
Page 16 [ Series 23, No. 27

and whether they would accept a child

with characteristics other than what was

preferred. (See Text box 4 for the

questions asked.) Table 15 presents

information on the characteristics of

children that women would prefer and

would accept. Women currently seeking

to adopt would prefer to adopt a child

younger than 2 years old, without a

disability, and a single child rather than

two or more siblings. However, 89% of

women currently seeking to adopt would

prefer or accept a child with a mild

disability, 79% would prefer or accept a

child 2–5 years old, and 75% would

prefer or accept a set of siblings. With

regard to transracial adoption, 84% of

white adoption seekers would prefer or

accept a black child and 95% would

prefer or accept a child of a race other

than black or white. Similarly, 75% of

black adoption seekers would prefer or

accept a white child and 93% would

prefer or accept a child of another race.

Relinquishment of Infants

for Adoption at Birth

Table 16 reprints the figures on

relinquishment of infants by nevermarried women presented in Chandra et

al. (16, Table 5) for years prior to 1996

and adds a column for babies born in

the period 1996–2002. It shows that the

practice of relinquishing an infant for

adoption has remained very low at 1.0%

of babies born during this period. As

noted in the ‘‘Methods’’ section,

relinquishment in this report includes

infants relinquished during the first

month whereas in previous reports

relinquishment was limited to those

infants relinquished at birth because, of

the estimated 6.8 million babies born to

never-married women 18–44 years of

age between 1996 and 2002, too few

infants were relinquished at birth

(without being named) by the biological

mother to produce statistically reliable

results (not shown). Reflecting the very

small numbers on which these

percentages are based, the percentage

relinquished has remained virtually

unchanged. The percentage for white,

never-married women has decreased

slightly, from 1.7 for babies born

between 1989 and 1995 to 1.3 for

babies born between 1996 and 2002, not

a statistically significant difference.

Conclusion

This report has shown that in 2002

1.1% of women and 2.3% of men 18–44

years of age had adopted a child. This is

the first time that national estimates of

the adoption experience of all women,

not just ever-married women, and the

adoption experience of men have been

reported. The data described here show

that, although never-married women and

men account for relatively small

numbers of adoptions, because there are

significant numbers of never-married

persons adopting children it is important

for them to be included in future studies

of adoption and adoption seeking. This

analysis has also shown that nearly 1

million women were seeking to adopt

children in 2002 (i.e., they were in

demand for a child), whereas the

domestic supply of infants relinquished

at birth or within the first month of life

and available to be adopted had become

virtually nonexistent. While adoption

continues to be rare, this report has

shown that the prevalence of adoption

varies by demographic and other

characteristics. This study details how

adoption continues to be an avenue used

by couples (and to a lesser degree, by

never-married and formerly married

women and never-married men) for

family formation.

An important finding of this study

is that more men than women 18–44

years of age in 2002 had adopted a

child. This may be due, in part, because

of the living arrangements of most

children following the divorce of their

biological parents. When parents

divorce, children are more likely to live

in households with their biological

mothers than with their biological

fathers (25,26). When these single

parents remarry, the new husbands have

greater opportunities to adopt these

stepchildren than the new wives.

Although the relationship of the child to

the adoptive parent could not be

examined, this report has shown that

three times as many women and men in

second or later marriages had adopted a

child compared with those in first

marriages. These findings may support

the role of adoption as a mechanism by

which both stepmothers and stepfathers

formalize and solidify their relationships

with their stepchildren.

An unexpected but interesting

finding of this report is the opposite

effect of fathering or giving birth to a

child on adoption experiences for men

and women—men who have fathered a

child but women who have not given

birth are significantly more likely to

have adopted a child compared with

men who have not fathered a child and

women who have had one or more

births. These patterns are consistent with

hypotheses suggesting adoption for men

typically formalizes the stepfatherstepchild relationship, whereas adoption

for women is a mechanism by which

they bring a child into their homes.

Women 30 years of age and over

who have ever considered adoption are

more likely than younger women to

have actually taken steps to adopt. This

is to be expected because:

1. Women 30 years of age and older

have had more time over their lifetimes

to take steps to adopt compared with

younger women.

2. Women 30 years of age and older

who have delayed childbearing, are at

increased risk of having impaired

fecundity and, because they are at a

time in their lives when they want to

raise children, seek to adopt as either an

alternative or an adjunct to using

infertility services.

Currently taking steps to adopt,

however, is highest in the 35–39 year

old age group. This suggests that by the

time women reach their 40s, their desire

to begin caring for and rearing children

may be declining.

It is also of note that, given the

distribution of women 18–44 years of

age in 2002 in the United States by race

and Hispanic origin, fewer non-Hispanic

white women and more non-Hispanic

black women are currently seeking to

adopt or currently taking steps to adopt

than would be expected. These racial

and ethnic differences, not only in

adoption but all nonbiological

childrearing, will be explored in more

depth in a forthcoming report.
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 17

Adoption is governed by forces of

supply and demand. One source of

domestically available children awaiting

adoption is the foster care system, and

information on the number and

characteristics awaiting adoption can be

obtained from data provided by the

Children’s Bureau. In 2002, the same

year that data were collected for the

NSFG, the Children’s Bureau reported

there were approximately 124,000

children under the age of 16 waiting to

be adopted from the foster care system

(27). Children waiting to be adopted are

defined by the Children’s Bureau as

children with [case] goals of adoption

and/or children whose parents have had

their parental rights terminated. Children

16 years of age and older whose parents

have had their parental rights terminated

and who have a goal of emancipation

are excluded from the waiting-to-beadopted population. Children waiting to

be adopted were 53% male; 42%

non-Hispanic black, 13% Hispanic, 36%

non-Hispanic white, and 9% other or

multiple race; had a mean age of 8.5

years; had been in foster care about 3

years (mean = 3.6 years, median = 2.9

years); and were living in a pre-adoptive

home (17%), a relative foster family

home (17%), or a nonrelative foster

family home (56%). Although absolute

numbers of children who have been

adopted from the foster care system

with public agency involvement had

been increasing (37,000 in 1998 to

53,000 in 2002) it has remained at

approximately 50,000 annually since

2000 (28–30). Because the

characteristics of children that women

and couples seek to adopt, as shown in

this report, may not correspond to the

characteristics of children in the foster

care system, women and couples may

seek children from outside the foster

care system to adopt.

The more affluent women and

couples may turn to international

adoption in order to obtain children with

the characteristics they prefer. The

number of international adoptions has

generally increased from the 1990s,

partially offsetting the decline in the

number of infants relinquished at birth

and available domestically to be

adopted. Data from the U.S. Department

of State show that the number of

international adoptions (as measured by

the number of Immigrant Visas issued to

orphans each fiscal year) more than

doubled between 1990 and 2002. In the

early 1990s, fewer than 10,000

Immigrant Visas were issued annually.

Beginning in 1996 the number of Visas

increased annually so that by 2002

slightly more than 20,000 were issued

(11). U.S. families have chosen to adopt

internationally rather than domestically

because the benefits—obtaining an

infant, obtaining a baby with a similar

ethnic and racial background as the

adoptive family, the confidentiality of

the adoption, and shorter waiting

times—have outweighed the generally

higher expense and greater likelihood

that the child may have developmental

delays or health conditions (9).

The Hague Convention on the

Protection of Children and Cooperation

in Respect of Intercountry Adoption

became effective on April 1, 2008, in

the United States; adoption of children

from the more than 124 other

Convention member countries is now

governed in accordance with the

provisions of the Intercountry Adoption

Act of 2000 (PL 106–279) (31,32).

Under the Hague Convention, persons

wishing to adopt must apply to their

own country’s central authority, which is

responsible for implementing all facets

of the Convention, thereby eliminating

private adoptions between these

countries and the United States. The

requirements for international adoption,

as set forth in the Hague Convention,

may limit which individuals or couples

are able to adopt internationally. Given

the lack of infants available

domestically, whether these families

choose to adopt from the foster care

system or forego childrearing is yet to

be determined.

Although the absolute numbers of

children being adopted from the foster

care system and from other countries are

best monitored through the Adoption

and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting

System and the issuance of Immigrant

Visas, the NSFG may be able to answer

whether the relative proportion of

individuals and families adopting

internationally, from the foster care

system, or foregoing childrearing

altogether changes. The NSFG began

continuous interviewing in 2006 and

data files can be combined until

sufficient numbers of cases to do such

an analysis are accumulated. The size of

this data file and, therefore how

frequently the relative proportions can

be calculated, is dependent upon the

number of adoptions that occur within

each released data file.

This report has focused solely on

adoption and primarily on women.

Adoption, however, is only one facet of

nonbiological childrearing. A

significantly larger percentage of men

and women were raising nonbiological

children that they had not adopted (and

they had no plans to adopt them) than

were raising adopted children. A

subsequent report will address the

broader issue of nonbiological

childrearing, but again it will primarily

be focused on women as information

about non-adopted, nonbiological

children was not collected from men.

This data limitation led to a revision of

the NSFG Cycle 7 instrument so that,

beginning in July 2007; data about the

majority of nonbiological children are

being collected from men.

References

1.	 Bachrach CA, Stolley KS, London KA.

Relinquishment of premarital births:

Evidence from national survey data.

Fam Plann Perspect 24(1):27–32. 1992.

2.	 Bachrach CA. Adoption as a means of

family formation: Data from the

National Survey of Family Growth. J

Marr Fam 45(4):859–65. 1983.

3.	 Bonham GS. Who adopts: The

relationship of adoption and socialdemographic characteristics of women.

J Marr Fam 39(2):295–306. 1977.

4.	 Maza PL. Trends in national data on

the adoption of children with

handicaps. J Children in Contemporary

Society 3(1):26–42. 1990.

5.	 Miller BC, Coyl DD. Adolescent

pregnancy and childbearing in relation

to infant adoption in the United States.

Adoption Q 4(1):3–25. 2000.

6.	 Mosher WD, Bachrach CA.

Understanding U.S. fertility: Continuity

and change in the National Survey of

Family Growth, 1988–1995. Fam Plann

Perspect 28:4–12. 1996.

7.	 Hamilton BE, Martin JA, Ventura SJ.

Births: Preliminary data for 2006.
Page 18 [ Series 23, No. 27

National vital statistics reports; vol 56

no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center

for Health Statistics. 2007.

8. Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Sutton PD,

Ventura SJ, Menacker F, Kirmeyer S,

Munson ML. Births: Final data for

2005. National vital statistics reports;

vol 56 no 6. Hyattsville, MD: National

Center for Health Statistics. 2007.

9. Hollingsworth L, Ruffin VM. Why are

so many U.S. families adopting

internationally? A social exchange

perspective. J Human Behavior in the

Social Environment 6(1):81–97. 2002.

10. Freundlich M. Supply and demand: The

forces shaping the future of infant

adoption. Adoption Q 2(1):13–46.

1998.

11. U.S. Department of State. Immigrant

visas issued to orphans coming to the

U.S. Available from: http://

travel.state.gov/family/adoption/stats/

stats_451.html, accessed 7/5/2007.

12. Child Welfare Information Gateway.

How many children were adopted in

2000 and 2001? Washington, DC: Child

Welfare Information Gateway. 2004.

13. Kreider RM. Adopted children and

stepchildren: 2000. Census 2000

Special Reports CENSR-6RV

Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.

2003.

14. Maza PL. What we do and don’t know

about adoption statistics. Child Welfare

League of America: Permanent families

for children 3(2). 1985.

15. Stolley KS. Statistics on adoption in

the United States. Future Child

3(1):26–42. 1993.

16. Chandra A, Abma J, Maza P, Bachrach

C. Adoption, adoption seeking, and

relinquishment for adoption in the

United States. Advance data from vital

and health statistics; no. 306.

Hyattsville, MD: National Center for

Health Statistics. 1999.

17. Groves RM, Benson G, Mosher WD, et

al. Plan and operation of Cycle 6 of the

National Survey of Family Growth.

National Center for Health Statistics.

Vital Health Stat 1(42). 2005.

18. Lepkowski JM, Mosher WD, Davis

KE, Groves RM, van Hoewyk J,

Willem J. National Survey of Family

Growth, Cycle 6: Sample design,

weighting, imputation, and variance

estimation. National Center for Health

Statistics. Vital Health Stat 2(142).

2006.

19. Chandra A, Martinez GM, Mosher WD,

Abma JC, Jones J. Fertility, family

planning, and reproductive health of

U.S. women: Data from the 2002

National Survey of Family Growth.

National Center for Health Statistics.

Vital Health Stat 23(25). 2005.

20. Teachman JD, Tedrow LM, Crowder

KD. The changing demography of

America’s families. J Marr Fam

62(4):1234–46. 2000.

21. Testa MF, Falconnier L. Improving data

collection on adoption and

relinquishment of children in the

National Survey of Family Growth

(NSFG). Final report prepared for a

personal services contract. 1998.

22. Bachrach CA, Adams PF, Sambrano S,

London KA. Adoption in the 1980’s.

Advance data from vital and health

statistics; no. 181. Hyattsville, MD:

National Center for Health Statistics.

1990.

23. Bachrach CA. Children in families:

Characteristics of biological, step- and

adopted children. J Marr Fam

45(1):171–9. 1983.

24. Bachrach CA, London KA, Maza PL.

On the path to adoption: Adoption

seeking in the United States, 1988. J

Marr Fam 53(3):705–18. 1991.

25. Kreider RM, Fields J. Living

arrangements of children: 2001. Current

Population Reports P70–104

Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau.

2005.

26. Fields J. Children’s living arrangements

and characteristics: March 2002.

Current Population Reports P20–547

Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau.

2003.

27. U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services. The AFCARS report: Final

estimates for FY 1998 through FY

2002 (12). Washington, DC:

Administration for Children &

Families, Children’s Bureau. 2006.

28. U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services. The AFCARS report: Interim

FY 2003 estimates as of June 2006

(10). Washington, DC: Administration

for Children & Families, Children’s

Bureau. 2006.

29. U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services. The AFCARS report:

Preliminary FY 2004 estimates as of

June 2006 (11). Washington, DC:

Administration for Children &

Families, Children’s Bureau. 2006.

30. U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services. The AFCARS report:

Preliminary FY 2005 estimates as of

September 2006 (13). Washington, DC:

Administration for Children &

Families, Children’s Bureau. 2006.

31. U.S. Department of State. U.S. Hague

Convention Ratification. Available

from: http://travel.state.gov/family/

adoption/convention/

convention_3900.html#, accessed

1/2/2008.

32. United Nations Population Division.

What do we know about adoption?

Breakfast seminar hand out at the

Population Association of America

Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.

2008.

33. Martinez GM, Chandra A, Abma JC,

Jones J, Mosher WD. Fertility,

contraception, and fatherhood: Data on

men and women from Cycle 6 (2002)

of the National Survey of Family

Growth. National Center for Health

Statistics. Vital Health Stat 23(26).

2006.
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 19

Table 1. Number of ever-married women 18–44 years of age and percentage who have ever adopted a child, by selected characteristics:

United States, 1973–2002

Characteristic 19731 19821 19881 1995 2002

Number in thousands

Ever-married women ......................... 30,701 34,632 36,689 37,464 35,845

Percent who ever adopted

Total2 ................................... 2.1 2.2 1.6 1.3 1.4

Age

18–24 years ............................... 0.4 0.6 – * –

25–34 years ............................... 1.8 2.0 0.5 0.5 0.6

35–39 years ............................... 3.1 2.1 2.2 1.9 1.3

40–44 years ............................... 4.0 4.3 4.3 2.5 2.9

Marital status

Currently married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 2.1 1.8 1.3 1.6

Formerly married ............................ 1.5 2.4 0.9 1.2 0.6

Parity

0 births .................................. 5.9 6.6 3.8 3.6 3.2

1 birth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7 2.2 1.5 0.8 0.7

2 births .................................. 1.1 1.3 0.7 0.9 1.1

3 or more births ............................ 0.8 0.6 1.3 0.5 1.2

Ever used infertility services

Yes .................................... – – – 7.5 6.6 3.7 5.2

No ..................................... – – – 1.0 0.6 0.6 0.6

Fecundity status3

Surgically sterile ............................ 3.3 2.1 2.1 1.3 1.8

Impaired fecundity ........................... 5.7 9.2 6.1 4.1 4.0

Fecund .................................. 0.8 0.8 0.2 0.5 0.4

Education4

No high school diploma or GED5 .................. 1.8 1.7 1.8 1.0 *

High school diploma or GED5 .................... 2.4 2.4 1.5 1.3 2.2

Some college, no bachelor’s degree ................ 1.6 2.2 1.2 1.5 1.1

Bachelor’s degree or higher ..................... 4.6 3.1 2.4 1.7 1.6

Percent of poverty level4

0–149 percent ............................. 1.4 1.8 0.7 0.7 0.3

150–299 percent ............................ 2.0 2.5 1.9 1.1 2.3

300 percent or higher ......................... 3.0 2.4 1.8 1.9 1.5

Race and Hispanic origin6

Hispanic ................................. 1.2 0.7 0.8 0.6 0.5

Non-Hispanic white .......................... 2.3 2.4 1.8 1.4 1.6

Non-Hispanic black .......................... 1.6 1.5 1.6 1.9 2.0

– Quantity zero.
 

* Figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision.
 

– – – Data not available.
 

1

Percentages for 1973, 1982, and 1988 are from Chandra et al., 1999, Table 1.
 

2

Total includes women with missing or inapplicable data on some variables. Also, includes women of other race and ethnic origins, not shown separately.
 

3

Fecundity status in 1973 was measured only as surgically sterile, subfecund, and fecund. In 1982, 1988, 1995, and 2002, fecundity status differentiated surgically sterile women based on
 

contraceptive versus noncontraceptive reasons. Fecundity status also included three subcategories of impaired fecundity: nonsurgically sterile, subfecund, and long interval (the woman engaged in
 

unprotected intercourse for 36 months or more without conceiving).
 

4

Limited to women 22–44 years of age at time of interview.
 

5

GED is General Educational Development diploma. GED was explicitly asked about in the 1988, 1995, and 2002 surveys.
 

6

This table uses the 1977 Office of Management and Budget guidelines to report race and ethnicity. See ‘‘Methods’’ section for explanation.
 
Page 20 [ Series 23, No. 27

Table 2. Number of all women 18–44 years of age, number of ever-married women 18–44 years of age, and percentage who have ever

adopted a child, by selected characteristics: United States, 2002

All women Ever-married women

Characteristic

Number in

thousands Percent

Standard

error

Number in

thousands Percent

Standard

error

Total1 ................................... 55,742 1.1 0.17 35,845 1.4 0.27

Age

18–29 years ...............................

30–34 years ...............................

35–39 years ...............................

40–44 years ...............................

23,104

10,272

10,853

11,512

0.2

0.7

1.6

2.9

0.06

0.35

0.38

0.73

8,487

7,971

9,041

10,345

*

0.9

1.3

2.9

*

0.44

0.40

0.78

Marital status

Currently married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

First marriage ............................

Second or later marriage .....................

Never married..............................

Formerly married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

28,323

23,078

5,245

19,897

7,522

1.6

1.3

3.2

0.5

0.6

0.32

0.22

1.33

0.16

0.35

28,323

23,078

5,245

...

7,522

1.6

1.3

3.2

...

0.6

0.32

0.22

1.33

...

0.35

Parity

0 births . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 or more births ............................

19,993

35,749

1.4

0.9

0.36

0.21

6,347

29,498

3.2

1.0

1.04

0.24

Ever used infertility services

Yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

No . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7,306

48,436

5.1

0.5

1.24

0.11

6,563

29,282

5.2

0.6

1.34

0.17

Fecundity status

Surgically sterile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Impaired fecundity ...........................

Fecund ..................................

14,439

7,063

34,240

1.7

3.5

0.4

0.44

1.01

0.11

12,933

5,269

17,642

1.8

4.0

0.4

0.49

1.31

0.18

Education2

No high school diploma or GED...................

High school diploma or GED.....................

Some college, no bachelor’s degree ................

Bachelor’s degree or higher .....................

5,627

14,264

14,279

13,551

0.7

1.8

0.9

1.5

0.38

0.59

0.28

0.38

3,816

10,691

10,728

9,728

*

2.2

1.1

1.6

*

0.78

0.38

0.47

Percent of poverty level3

0–149 percent .............................

150–299 percent ............................

300 percent or higher .........................

14,582

14,502

22,643

0.4

1.7

1.3

0.14

0.58

0.30

8,719

10,356

16,537

0.2

2.3

1.5

0.14

0.81

0.39

Hispanic origin and race

Hispanic or Latina ...........................

Not Hispanic or Latina:

White, single race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Black or African American, single race .............

8,194

35,936

7,399

0.3

1.3

1.4

0.15

0.25

0.48

5,265

24,817

3,242

0.5

1.6

2.1

0.23

0.37

0.87

* Figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision.
 

. . . Category not applicable.
 

1

Includes women of other or multiple race and origin groups, not shown separately.
 

2

Limited to women 22–44 years of age at time of interview. GED is General Educational Development diploma.
 

3

Limited to women 20–44 years of age at time of interview.
 
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 21

Table 3. Number of all women 18–44 years of age and percentage who have ever adopted a child, by use of infertility services, age, and

parity: United States, 2002

Number in Percent who Standard

Characteristic thousands adopted error

Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55,742 1.1 0.17

Used infertility services ........................ 7,306 5.1 1.24

All ages

0 children born .......................... 1,793 10.7 3.42

1 or more children born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,512 3.2 1.26

18–34 years of age

0 children born .......................... 1,013 2.6 1.51

1 or more children born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,207 * *

35–39 years of age

0 children born .......................... 279 * *

1 or more children born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,595 1.8 1.10

40–44 years of age

0 children born .......................... 501 26.3 9.92

1 or more children born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,711 7.7 3.79

Did not use infertility services .................... 48,436 0.5 0.11

All ages

0 children born .......................... 18,201 0.5 0.17

1 or more children born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,235 0.5 0.15

18–34 years of age

0 children born .......................... 15,423 0.2 0.10

1 or more children born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,735 0.3 0.21

35–39 years of age

0 children born .......................... 1,558 2.3 0.77

1 or more children born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,421 1.0 0.40

40–44 years of age

0 children born .......................... 1,220 * *

1 or more children born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,079 0.4 0.20

* Figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision.
Page 22 [ Series 23, No. 27

Table 4. Number of all men 18–44 years of age, number of ever-married men 18–44 years of age, and percentage who have ever adopted a

child, by selected characteristics: United States, 2002

All men Ever-married men

Number in Standard Number in Standard

Characteristic thousands Percent error thousands Percent error

Total1 ................................... 55,399 2.3 0.40 30,950 3.8 0.71

Age

18–29 years ............................... 23,569 0.6 0.23 6,295 1.5 0.65

30–34 years ............................... 10,138 3.2 1.10 7,105 4.2 1.64

35–39 years ............................... 10,557 3.8 1.35 8,260 4.7 1.70

40–44 years ............................... 11,135 3.5 0.98 9,290 4.2 1.17

Marital status

Currently married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,795 4.0 0.82 25,795 4.0 0.82

First marriage ............................ 21,396 3.0 0.80 21,396 3.0 0.80

Second or later marriage ..................... 4,399 8.6 2.51 4,399 8.6 2.51

Never married.............................. 24,449 0.3 0.16 . . . . . . . . .

Formerly married ............................ 5,155 3.0 0.89 5,155 3.0 0.89

Ever had a biological child

Never had a biological child ..................... 26,869 0.6 0.27 6,607 2.3 1.10

One or more biological children ................... 28,530 3.9 0.71 24,343 4.2 0.82

Ever used infertility services2

Yes .................................... 4,008 1.8 0.60 3,856 1.5 0.55

No ..................................... 47,435 2.5 0.48 27,094 4.1 0.83

Sterility status

Not sterile ................................ 49,723 2.0 0.39 26,249 3.4 0.71

Surgically sterile ............................ 3,851 6.5 2.61 3,750 6.6 2.69

Nonsurgically sterile .......................... 1,825 1.8 0.96 951 2.5 1.51

Education3

No high school diploma or GED................... 6,355 2.5 0.68 4,037 3.1 0.74

High school diploma or GED..................... 15,659 4.0 1.05 10,793 5.4 1.45

Some college, no bachelor’s degree ................ 13,104 1.8 0.68 7,695 3.1 1.17

Bachelor’s degree or higher ..................... 11,901 2.0 0.94 8,131 2.9 1.36

Percent of poverty level4

0–149 percent ............................. 11,032 3.1 1.11 6,086 4.4 1.91

150–299 percent ............................ 14,451 2.1 0.66 8,842 3.4 1.07

300 percent or higher ......................... 25,457 2.4 0.53 15,975 3.8 0.86

Hispanic origin and race

Hispanic or Latino ........................... 9,336 2.1 0.66 5,064 2.7 1.03

Not Hispanic or Latino:

White, single race .......................... 35,154 2.2 0.48 20,589 3.7 0.84

Black or African American, single race ............. 6,127 2.7 1.06 2,894 5.0 2.17

. . . Category not applicable.

1

Includes men with missing data on some variables and men of other or multiple race and origin groups, not shown separately.

2

Limited to men who have had sex. If a man was currently or formerly married, it was assumed he had had sex. This variable was computed differently for men than it was for women (see Technical

Notes for details).

3

Limited to men 22–44 years of age at time of interview. GED is General Educational Development diploma.

4

Limited to men 20–44 years of age at time of interview.
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 23

Table 5. Number of all women 18–44 years of age and percentage who have ever considered adoption, number of women who ever

considered adoption and percentage who have ever taken steps to adopt, and number of women who ever took steps to adopt and

percentage who ever adopted a child, by selected characteristics: United States, 2002

Women who have ever Women who have ever

All women considered adoption taken steps to adopt

Percent Percent Percent

who ever who took who ever

Number in considered Standard Number in steps to (Standard Number in adopted Standard

Characteristic thousands adoption1 error thousands2 adopt error) thousands3 a child error

Total4 .............................. 55,742 33.1 0.80 18,465 14.3 1.00 2,643 23.2 3.25

Age

18–29 years .......................... 23,104 29.4 1.00 6,801 5.5 0.73 376 10.6 4.17

30–34 years .......................... 10,272 34.1 1.77 3,504 16.4 2.12 574 13.0 5.70

35–39 years .......................... 10,853 38.5 1.75 4,180 19.2 2.33 804 21.1 4.49

40–44 years .......................... 11,512 34.6 2.28 3,979 22.3 2.78 889 37.0 6.84

Marital or cohabiting status

Currently married ....................... 28,323 35.2 1.16 9,962 18.1 1.56 1,801 25.5 4.34

First marriage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23,078 34.3 1.04 7,915 16.1 1.40 1,272 22.8 4.06

Second or later marriage................. 5,245 39.0 3.57 2,047 25.8 3.92 529 31.9 10.11

Never married ......................... 19,897 28.4 1.03 5,641 8.8 1.18 494 21.7 6.05

Formerly married ....................... 7,522 38.0 2.20 2,862 12.2 1.63 349 13.8 6.85

Parity

0 births ............................. 19,993 35.4 1.17 7,070 11.1 1.24 784 36.3 6.89

1 or more births ........................ 35,749 31.9 0.98 11,395 16.3 1.32 1,859 17.7 3.62

Ever used infertility services

Yes ............................... 7,306 57.1 1.89 4,173 28.4 2.72 1,186 31.1 5.70

No ................................ 48,436 29.5 0.83 14,292 10.2 1.01 1,457 16.8 3.56

Fecundity status

Surgically sterile ....................... 14,439 32.7 1.41 4,720 22.7 2.66 1,070 22.4 5.20

Impaired fecundity ...................... 7,063 51.8 2.24 3,657 24.3 2.62 889 27.8 6.63

Fecund ............................. 34,240 29.5 0.96 10,088 6.8 0.89 684 18.5 5.35

Education5

No high school diploma or GED .............. 5,627 23.8 1.79 1,341 16.2 3.26 217 * *

High school diploma or GED ................ 14,264 32.6 1.75 4,643 18.7 2.53 869 28.9 7.07

Some college, no bachelor’s degree ........... 14,279 36.8 1.32 5,252 14.2 1.73 744 17.0 5.34

Bachelor’s degree or higher ................ 13,551 37.1 1.47 5,028 14.7 1.80 737 26.7 6.33

Percent of poverty level6

0–149 percent......................... 14,582 29.0 1.25 4,224 15.3 2.13 646 9.5 3.22

150–299 percent ....................... 14,502 33.4 1.82 4,840 14.0 2.14 675 36.8 8.59

300 percent or higher .................... 22,643 36.6 1.01 8,290 15.6 1.55 1,290 23.5 4.60

Hispanic origin and race

Hispanic or Latina ...................... 8,194 30.8 1.84 2,523 12.8 2.08 324 8.4 3.79

Not Hispanic or Latina: ...................

White, single race ..................... 35,936 33.6 1.09 12,058 13.4 1.17 1,613 28.0 4.91

Black or African American, single race ........ 7,399 35.2 1.89 2,605 19.8 2.62 516 20.1 6.00

* Figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision.
 

1

Includes women who have adopted children in the past, women who have ever considered adoption, and women who are currently seeking to adopt.
 

2

Due to rounding of percentages and numbers, multiplying the number of women by the percentage who have ever considered adoption may not yield the numbers presented in this column. The
 

numbers presented here were produced using actual (unrounded) figures.

3

Due to rounding of percentages and numbers, multiplying the number of women who have ever considered adoption by the percentage of women who have ever taken steps to adopt may not yield
 

the numbers presented in this column. The numbers presented here were produced using actual (unrounded) figures.
 

4

Includes women of other or multiple race and origin groups, not shown separately.
 

5

Limited to women 22–44 years of age at time of interview. GED is General Educational Development diploma.
 

6

Limited to women 20–44 years of age at time of interview.
 
Page 24 [ Series 23, No. 27

Table 6. Number of ever-married women 18–44 years of age and percentage who have ever considered adoption, number of ever-married

women who have ever considered adoption and percentage who have ever taken steps to adopt, and number of ever-married women who

ever took steps to adopt and percentage who have ever adopted a child, by selected characteristics: United States, 2002

All ever-married women

Ever-married women who have

ever considered adoption

Ever-married women who have

ever taken steps to adopt

Characteristic

Number in

thousands

Percent

who ever

considered

adoption1

Standard

error

Number in

thousands2

Percent

who took

steps to

adopt

(Standard

error)

Number in

thousands3

Percent

who ever

adopted

a child

Standard

error

Total4 ............................ 35,845 35.8 1.06 12,823 16.8 1.27 2,150 23.6 3.85

Age

18–29 years........................

30–34 years........................

35–39 years........................

40–44 years........................

8,487

7,971

9,041

10,345

34.4

36.5

37.7

34.7

1.66

1.94

1.89

2.47

2,918

2,910

3,409

3,587

7.4

16.2

19.1

22.6

1.36

2.21

2.65

2.87

216

471

651

812

*

15.1

18.5

37.1

*

6.77

4.91

7.19

Marital or cohabiting status

Currently married ....................

First marriage .....................

Second or later marriage ..............

Formerly married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

28,323

23,078

5,245

7,522

35.2

34.3

39.0

38.0

1.16

1.04

3.57

2.20

9,962

7,915

2,047

2,862

18.1

16.1

25.8

12.2

1.56

1.40

3.92

1.63

1,801

1,272

529

349

25.5

22.8

31.9

13.8

4.34

4.06

10.11

6.85

Parity

0 births. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 or more births .....................

6,347

29,498

49.3

32.9

1.81

1.11

3,130

9,693

17.8

16.4

2.44

1.40

558

1,591

36.7

19.0

8.61

4.10

Ever used infertility services

Yes .............................

No. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6,563

29,282

57.2

31.0

2.03

1.13

3,757

9,066

28.4

11.9

2.84

1.37

1,069

1,081

31.8

15.4

6.10

4.24

Fecundity status

Surgically sterile .....................

Impaired fecundity ....................

Fecund...........................

12,933

5,269

17,642

33.5

53.6

32.1

1.56

2.72

1.45

4,334

2,823

5,667

21.8

28.0

7.3

2.66

2.93

1.24

945

791

414

23.9

26.3

17.6

5.78

7.13

6.55

Education5

No high school diploma or GED ...........

High school diploma or GED .............

Some college, no bachelor’s degree.........

Bachelor’s degree or higher ..............

3,816

10,691

10,728

9,728

24.7

33.6

38.9

39.0

2.31

2.12

1.56

1.64

942

3,587

4,177

3,795

15.4

20.3

16.2

15.8

3.81

2.94

2.24

2.05

145

729

675

599

*

31.6

17.3

25.3

*

8.16

5.88

6.72

Percent of poverty level6

0–149 percent ......................

150–299 percent .....................

300 percent or higher ..................

8,719

10,356

16,537

31.4

34.4

38.8

1.69

2.22

1.34

2,738

3,566

6,420

15.6

16.1

17.9

2.59

2.86

1.89

428

573

1,149

4.8

40.7

22.1

2.89

9.39

4.75

Hispanic origin and race

Hispanic or Latina ....................

Not Hispanic or Latina:

White, single race. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Black or African American, single race ......

5,265

24,817

3,242

33.8

35.8

41.3

2.25

1.35

2.81

1,780

8,888

1,339

15.0

16.2

22.8

2.34

1.49

3.90

267

1,443

305

*

27.1

22.0

*

5.39

7.92

* Figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision.
 

1

Includes women who have adopted children in the past, women who have ever considered adoption, and women who are currently seeking to adopt.
 

2

Due to rounding of percentages and numbers, multiplying the number of women by the percentage who have ever considered adoption may not yield the numbers presented in this column. The
 

numbers presented here were produced using actual (unrounded) figures.

3

Due to rounding of percentages and numbers, multiplying the number of women who have ever considered adoption by the percentage who have ever taken steps to adopt may not yield the numbers
 

presented in this column. The numbers presented here were produced using actual (unrounded) figures.
 

4

Includes women of other or multiple race and origin groups, not shown separately.
 

5

Limited to women 22–44 years of age at time of interview. GED is General Educational Development diploma.
 

6

Limited to women 20–44 years of age at time of interview.
 
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 25

Table 7. Number of all women 18–44 years of age, percentage who are currently seeking to adopt and, of those currently seeking to adopt,

percentage who are currently taking steps to adopt, by selected characteristics: United States, 2002

Women who are currently

All women seeking to adopt a child

Percent Percent

currently currently

Number in seeking Standard Number in taking steps Standard

Characteristic thousands to adopt error thousands1 to adopt error

Total2 ........................................ 55,742 1.6 0.18 901 62.2 6.18

Age

18–29 years.................................... 23,104 1.1 0.25 252 * *

30–34 years.................................... 10,272 1.8 0.30 183 * *

35–39 years.................................... 10,853 2.7 0.62 287 * *

40–44 years.................................... 11,512 1.6 0.33 178 * *

Marital or cohabiting status

Currently married ................................ 28,323 2.0 0.27 555 70.5 7.17

First marriage ................................. 23,078 1.6 0.21 372 71.8 6.74

Second or later marriage .......................... 5,245 3.5 1.11 183 * *

Never married .................................. 19,897 0.9 0.25 185 * *

Formerly married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,522 2.1 0.48 161 * *

Parity

0 births. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19,993 1.8 0.32 360 54.8 8.77

1 or more births ................................. 35,749 1.5 0.22 541 67.1 7.58

Ever used infertility services

Yes ......................................... 7,306 4.5 0.61 325 * *

No. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,436 1.2 0.19 576 58.4 8.74

Fecundity status

Surgically sterile ................................. 14,439 2.1 0.55 300 * *

Impaired fecundity ................................ 7,063 5.1 0.88 360 * *

Fecund....................................... 34,240 0.7 0.14 241 * *

Education3

No high school diploma or GED ....................... 5,627 1.6 0.44 88 * *

High school diploma or GED ......................... 14,264 1.9 0.32 271 * *

Some college, no bachelor’s degree..................... 14,279 1.9 0.41 273 * *

Bachelor’s degree or higher .......................... 13,551 1.2 0.30 160 * *

Percent of poverty level4

0–149 percent .................................. 14,582 1.8 0.30 256 * *

150–299 percent ................................. 14,502 1.4 0.35 197 * *

300 percent or higher .............................. 22,643 1.7 0.32 395 58.3 9.78

Hispanic origin and race

Hispanic or Latina ................................ 8,194 2.4 0.43 195 * *

Not Hispanic or Latina:

White, single race. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,936 1.1 0.21 405 * *

Black or African American, single race .................. 7,399 3.1 0.63 228 * *

* Figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision.
 

1

Due to rounding of percentages and numbers, multiplying the number of women by the percentage who have ever considered adoption may not yield the numbers presented in this column. The
 

numbers presented here were produced using actual (unrounded) figures.
 

2

Includes women of other or multiple race and origin groups, not shown separately.
 

3

Limited to women 22–44 years of age at time of interview. GED is General Educational Development diploma.
 

4

Limited to women 20–44 years of age at time of interview.
 
Page 26 [ Series 23, No. 27

Table 8. Number of ever-married women 18–44 years of age, percentage who are currently seeking to adopt and, of those currently seeking

to adopt, percentage who are currently taking steps to adopt, by selected characteristics: United States, 2002

Ever-married women who are

All ever-married women currently seeking to adopt

Percent Percent

currently currently

Number in seeking Standard Number in taking steps Standard

Characteristic thousands to adopt error thousands1 to adopt error

Total2 ................................... 35,845 2.0 0.23 716 66.9 6.16

Age

18–29 years ............................... 8,487 1.8 0.45 153 * *

30–34 years ............................... 7,971 2.0 0.37 159 * *

35–39 years ............................... 9,041 2.7 0.73 248 * *

40–44 years ............................... 10,345 1.5 0.36 155 * *

Marital or cohabiting status

Currently married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28,323 2.0 0.27 555 70.5 7.17

First marriage ............................ 23,078 1.6 0.21 372 71.8 6.74

Second or later marriage ..................... 5,245 3.5 1.11 183 * *

Formerly married ............................ 7,522 2.1 0.48 161 * *

Parity

0 births .................................. 6,347 4.1 0.69 257 * *

1 or more births ............................ 29,498 1.6 0.24 459 65.0 8.20

Ever used infertility services

Yes .................................... 6,563 4.6 0.69 304 * *

No ..................................... 29,282 1.4 0.24 412 65.5 9.21

Fecundity status

Surgically sterile ............................ 12,933 2.2 0.58 279 * *

Impaired fecundity ........................... 5,269 5.8 0.92 303 * *

Fecund .................................. 17,642 0.8 0.18 134 * *

Education3

No high school diploma or GED................... 3,816 2.0 0.64 78 * *

High school diploma or GED..................... 10,691 2.2 0.44 231 * *

Some college, no bachelor’s degree ................ 10,728 2.2 0.47 235 * *

Bachelor’s degree or higher ..................... 9,728 1.6 0.41 151 * *

Percent of poverty level4

0–149 percent ............................. 8,719 2.3 0.43 199 * *

150–299 percent ............................ 10,356 1.5 0.37 150 * *

300 percent or higher ......................... 16,537 2.2 0.43 367 * *

Hispanic origin and race

Hispanic or Latina ........................... 5,265 3.0 0.61 156 * *

Not Hispanic or Latina:

White, single race .......................... 24,817 1.4 0.26 347 * *

Black or African American, single race ............. 3,242 4.5 1.15 147 * *

* Figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision.
 

1

Due to rounding of percentages and numbers, multiplying the number of women by the percentage who have ever considered adoption may not yield the numbers presented in this column. The
 

numbers presented here were produced using actual (unrounded) figures.
 

2

Includes women of other or multiple race and origin groups, not shown separately.
 

3

Limited to women 22–44 years of age at time of interview. GED is General Educational Development diploma.
 

4

Limited to women 20–44 years of age at time of interview.
 
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 27

Table 9. A comparison of lifetime adoption demand among ever-married women 18–44 years of age, by selected characteristics:

United States, 1995–2002

Percent who ever considered adoption

Of those who ever considered adopting, percent

who took steps to adopt

Characteristic 1995 2002 1995 2002

Number of women in denominator in thousands.........

(unweighted number) ........................

Number of women in numerator in thousands ..........

37,464

(6,835)

9,893

35,845

(4,125)

12,823

9,893

(1,856)

2,332

12,823

(1,517)

2,150

Percent

Standard

error Percent

Standard

error Percent

Standard

error Percent

Standard

error

All ever-married women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.4 0.71 35.8 1.06 23.6 1.09 16.8 1.27

Age

18–29 years ...............................

30–34 years ...............................

35–39 years ...............................

40–44 years ...............................

21.8

25.5

28.3

30.2

1.16

1.27

1.36

1.31

34.4

36.5

37.7

34.7

1.66

1.94

1.89

2.47

11.2

19.1

25.3

35.0

1.82

1.89

1.90

2.52

7.4

16.2

19.1

22.6

1.36

2.21

2.65

2.87

Marital status

Currently married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Formerly married ............................

26.7

25.5

0.79

1.27

35.2

38.0

1.16

2.20

24.8

18.8

1.20

2.28

18.1

12.2

1.56

1.63

Parity

0 births ..................................

1 or more births ............................

35.4

24.3

1.67

0.77

49.3

32.9

1.81

1.11

30.8

21.1

2.70

1.13

17.8

16.4

2.44

1.40

Ever used infertility services

Yes ....................................

No .....................................

41.1

22.2

1.30

0.75

57.2

31.0

2.03

1.13

37.0

16.4

1.96

1.08

28.4

11.9

2.84

1.37

Fecundity status

Surgically sterile ............................

Impaired fecundity ...........................

Fecund ..................................

27.6

44.9

20.5

1.02

1.82

0.88

33.5

53.6

32.1

1.56

2.72

1.45

27.2

33.4

13.8

1.79

2.50

1.41

21.8

28.0

7.3

2.66

2.93

1.24

Education1

No high school diploma or GED...................

High school diploma or GED.....................

Some college, no bachelor’s degree ................

Bachelor’s degree or higher .....................

21.5

25.5

31.0

26.5

1.77

0.98

1.38

1.28

24.7

33.6

38.9

39.0

2.31

2.12

1.56

1.64

25.4

21.5

25.6

25.6

3.96

1.73

2.10

2.17

15.4

20.3

16.2

15.8

3.81

2.94

2.24

2.05

Percent of poverty level2

0–149 percent .............................

150–299 percent ............................

300 percent or higher .........................

21.8

25.0

29.6

1.30

0.97

0.98

31.4

34.4

38.8

1.69

2.22

1.34

19.9

22.1

25.5

2.57

1.98

1.58

15.6

16.1

17.9

2.59

2.86

1.89

Hispanic origin and race3

Hispanic or Latina ...........................

Not Hispanic or Latina:

White, single race ..........................

Black or African American, single race .............

26.8

25.8

29.2

1.99

0.77

1.87

33.8

35.8

41.3

2.25

1.35

2.81

14.6

24.4

25.6

3.11

1.30

3.02

15.0

16.2

22.8

2.34

1.49

3.90

1

Limited to women 22–44 years of age at time of interview. GED is General Educational Development diploma.
 

2

Limited to women 20–44 years of age at time of interview.
 

3

This table uses the 1997 Office of Management and Budget guidelines to report race and ethnicity. See ‘‘Methods’’ section for explanation.
 
Page 28 [ Series 23, No. 27

Table 10. A comparison of current adoption demand among ever-married women 18–44 years of age, by selected characteristics:

United States, 1995–2002

Percent who are currently Of those who are currently seeking

seeking or planning to adopt to adopt, percent who are taking steps to adopt

Characteristic 1995 2002 1995 2002

Number of women in denominator in thousands......... 37,464 35,845 472 716

(unweighted number) ........................ (6,835) (4,125) (89) (99)

Number of women in numerator in thousands .......... 472 716 232 479

Standard Standard Standard Standard

Percent error Percent error Percent error Percent error

All ever-married women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 0.17 2.0 0.23 60.6 5.50 66.9 6.16

Age

18–29 years ............................... 0.6 0.17 1.8 0.45 * * * *

30–34 years ............................... 1.1 0.27 2.0 0.37 * * * *

35–39 years ............................... 1.6 0.32 2.7 0.73 * * * *

40–44 years ............................... 1.8 0.46 1.5 0.36 * * * *

Marital status

Currently married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 0.17 2.0 0.27 62.8 6.07 70.5 7.17

Formerly married ............................ 1.1 0.34 2.1 0.48 * * * *

Parity

0 births .................................. 2.2 0.45 4.1 0.69 * * * *

1 or more births ............................ 1.0 0.18 1.6 0.24 60.5 6.96 65.0 8.20

Ever used infertility services

Yes .................................... 2.0 0.35 4.6 0.69 * * * *

No ..................................... 1.1 0.18 1.4 0.24 53.9 8.19 65.5 9.21

Fecundity status

Surgically sterile ............................ 1.5 0.30 2.2 0.58 * * * *

Impaired fecundity ........................... 2.7 0.54 5.8 0.92 * * * *

Fecund .................................. 0.7 0.16 0.8 0.18 * * * *

Education1

No high school diploma or GED................... 2.7 0.90 2.0 0.64 * * * *

High school diploma or GED..................... 1.0 0.19 2.2 0.44 * * * *

Some college, no bachelor’s degree ................ 1.2 0.27 2.2 0.47 * * * *

Bachelor’s degree or higher ..................... 1.3 0.30 1.6 0.41 * * * *

Percent of poverty level2

0–149 percent ............................. 1.3 0.46 2.3 0.43 * * * *

150–299 percent ............................ 0.9 0.17 1.5 0.37 * * * *

300 percent or higher ......................... 1.5 0.24 2.2 0.43 61.1 6.66 * *

3 Hispanic origin and race

Hispanic or Latina ........................... 2.4 0.74 3.0 0.61 * * * *

Not Hispanic or Latina:

White, single race .......................... 0.9 0.14 1.4 0.26 * * * *

Black or African American, single race ............. 2.6 0.62 4.5 1.15 * * * *

* Figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision.
 

1

Limited to women 22–44 years of age at time of interview. GED is General Educational Development diploma.
 

2

Limited to women 20–44 years of age at time of interview.
 

3

This table uses the 1997 Office of Management and Budget guidelines to report race and ethnicity. See ‘‘Methods’’ section for explanation.
 
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 29

Table 11. Number and percent distribution of all women 18–44 years of age and all women reporting lifetime adoption-seeking behaviors,

according to selected characteristics: United States, 2002

Ever considered adoption

Characteristic All women Ever considered adoption and took steps to adopt

Number of women in denominator in thousands......... 55,742 18,465 2,643

Percent Standard Percent Standard Percent Standard

distribution error distribution error distribution error

Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 . . . 100.0 . . . 100.0 . . .

Age

18–29 years ............................... 41.5 1.08 36.8 1.34 †~14.2 2.01

30–34 years ............................... 18.4 0.60 19.0 0.97 21.7 2.65

35–39 years ............................... 19.5 0.74 22.6 1.19 ~30.4 3.02

40–44 years ............................... 20.7 0.87 21.6 1.31 †~33.6 3.60

Marital or cohabiting status

Currently married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.8 1.14 54.0 1.66 †~68.1 2.90

First marriage ............................ 41.4 1.04 42.9 1.45 48.1 2.96

Second or later marriage ..................... 9.4 0.70 11.1 0.92 †~20.0 2.56

Never married.............................. 35.7 1.02 ~30.6 1.32 †~18.7 2.36

Formerly married ............................ 13.5 0.54 15.5 0.99 13.2 1.85

Parity

0 births .................................. 35.9 1.05 38.3 1.25 †29.7 2.69

1 or more births ............................ 64.1 1.05 61.7 1.25 †70.3 2.69

Ever used infertility services

Yes .................................... 13.1 0.56 ~22.6 1.13 †~44.9 3.58

No ..................................... 86.9 0.56 ~77.4 1.13 †~55.1 3.58

Fecundity status

Surgically sterile ............................ 25.9 0.79 25.6 1.06 †~40.5 3.94

Impaired fecundity ........................... 12.7 0.52 ~19.8 0.97 †~33.6 2.79

Fecund .................................. 61.4 0.88 ~54.6 1.26 †~25.9 3.08

Education1

No high school diploma or GED................... 11.8 0.63 ~8.3 0.77 8.5 1.62

High school diploma or GED..................... 29.9 0.82 28.5 1.42 33.9 3.73

Some college, no bachelor’s degree ................ 29.9 0.73 32.3 1.14 29.0 2.97

Bachelor’s degree or higher ..................... 28.4 1.05 30.9 1.30 28.7 3.22

Percent of poverty level2

0–149 percent ............................. 28.2 0.99 24.3 1.14 24.7 2.87

150–299 percent ............................ 28.0 0.80 27.9 1.18 25.9 3.90

300 percent or higher ......................... 43.8 0.95 47.8 1.47 49.4 4.05

Hispanic origin and race

Hispanic or Latina ........................... 14.7 0.70 13.7 0.74 12.3 2.02

Not Hispanic or Latina:

White, single race .......................... 64.5 1.12 65.3 1.41 61.0 3.07

Black or African American, single race ............. 13.3 0.76 14.1 0.95 19.5 2.79

Other or multiple races ....................... 7.6 0.46 6.9 0.69 7.2 1.47

. . . Category not applicable.

† Percentage is significantly different at the .05 level from the percentage in ‘‘Ever considered adoption’’ column. That is, the 95-percent confidence intervals for the two percentage values do not

overlap.
 

~ Percentage is significantly different at the .05 level from the percentage in the ‘‘All women’’ column. That is, the 95-percent confidence intervals for the two percentage values do not overlap.
 

1

Limited to women 22–44 years of age at time of interview. GED is General Educational Development diploma.
 

2

Limited to women 20–44 years of age at time of interview.
 
Page 30 [ Series 23, No. 27

Table 12. Number and percent distribution of all women 18–44 years of age and all women reporting current adoption-seeking behaviors,

according to selected characteristics: United States, 2002

Currently seeking to adopt

Characteristic All women Currently seeking to adopt and taking steps to adopt

Number of women in denominator in thousands......... 55,742 901 560

Percent Standard Percent Standard Percent Standard

distribution error distribution error distribution error

Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 . . . 100.0 . . . 100.0 . . .

Age

18–29 years ............................... 41.5 1.08 28.0 5.82 ~18.4 5.67

30–34 years ............................... 18.4 0.60 20.4 3.53 22.3 5.12

35–39 years ............................... 19.5 0.74 31.9 5.74 ~41.0 7.20

40–44 years ............................... 20.7 0.87 19.8 3.86 18.3 4.77

Marital or cohabiting status

Currently married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.8 1.14 61.6 5.24 ~69.9 5.90

First marriage ............................ 41.4 1.04 41.3 4.97 47.7 5.60

Second or later marriage ..................... 9.4 0.70 20.3 5.34 22.2 6.89

Never married.............................. 35.7 1.02 20.5 4.71 14.4 4.35

Formerly married ............................ 13.5 0.54 17.9 3.76 15.7 4.29

Parity

0 births .................................. 35.9 1.05 40.0 5.54 35.2 6.21

1 or more births ............................ 64.1 1.05 60.0 5.54 64.8 6.21

Ever used infertility services

Yes .................................... 13.1 0.56 ~36.1 4.94 ~39.9 6.40

No ..................................... 86.9 0.56 ~63.9 4.94 ~60.1 6.40

Fecundity status

Surgically sterile ............................ 25.9 0.79 33.3 7.15 41.8 9.21

Impaired fecundity ........................... 12.7 0.52 ~40.0 6.49 ~35.5 7.58

Fecund .................................. 61.4 0.88 ~26.7 4.28 ~22.8 5.51

Education1

No high school diploma or GED................... 11.8 0.63 11.1 3.23 12.3 4.18

High school diploma or GED..................... 29.9 0.82 34.2 5.14 37.2 6.01

Some college, no bachelor’s degree ................ 29.9 0.73 34.5 5.36 34.0 5.57

Bachelor’s degree or higher ..................... 28.4 1.05 20.2 4.50 16.6 5.51

Percent of poverty level2

0–149 percent ............................. 28.2 0.99 30.2 4.66 33.8 6.29

150–299 percent ............................ 28.0 0.80 23.3 5.67 24.6 8.33

300 percent or higher ......................... 43.8 0.95 46.5 5.60 41.6 7.78

Hispanic origin and race

Hispanic or Latina ........................... 14.7 0.70 21.6 4.13 21.3 5.15

Not Hispanic or Latina:

White, single race .......................... 64.5 1.12 ~45.0 5.77 ~45.1 6.90

Black or African American, single race ............. 13.3 0.76 ~25.4 4.52 ~29.4 6.36

Other or multiple races ....................... 7.6 0.46 8.1 2.88 4.2 2.25

. . . Category not applicable.
 

~ Percentage is significantly different at the .05 level from the percentage in the ‘‘All women’’ column. That is, the 95-percent confidence intervals for the two percentage values do not overlap.
 

1

Limited to women 22–44 years of age at time of interview. GED is General Educational Development diploma.
 

2

Limited to women 20–44 years of age at time of interview.
 
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 31

Table 13. Number and percent distribution of ever-married women 18–44 years of age and ever-married women reporting lifetime adoptionseeking behaviors, according to selected characteristics: United States, 2002

Ever considered adoption

Characteristic All ever-married women Ever considered adoption and took steps to adopt

Number of women in denominator in thousands......... 35,845 12,823 2,150

Percent Standard Percent Standard Percent Standard

distribution error distribution error distribution error

Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 . . . 100.0 . . . 100.0 . . .

Age

18–29 years ............................... 23.7 1.06 22.8 1.53 †~10.0 2.01

30–34 years ............................... 22.2 0.80 22.7 1.30 21.9 2.96

35–39 years ............................... 25.2 0.99 26.6 1.54 30.3 3.36

40–44 years ............................... 28.9 1.17 28.0 1.74 37.8 4.11

Marital or cohabiting status

Currently married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79.0 0.90 77.7 1.49 83.8 2.30

First marriage ............................ 64.4 1.20 61.7 1.63 59.2 3.18

Second or later marriage ..................... 14.6 1.01 16.0 1.22 †~24.6 3.01

Formerly married ............................ 21.0 0.90 22.3 1.49 16.2 2.30

Parity

0 births .................................. 17.7 0.83 ~24.4 1.14 ~26.0 2.92

1 or more births ............................ 82.3 0.83 ~75.6 1.14 ~74.0 2.92

Ever used infertility services

Yes .................................... 18.3 0.82 ~29.3 1.52 †~49.7 4.14

No ..................................... 81.7 0.82 ~70.7 1.52 †~50.3 4.14

Fecundity status

Surgically sterile ............................ 36.1 1.19 33.8 1.58 43.9 4.43

Impaired fecundity ........................... 14.7 0.77 ~22.0 1.32 †~36.8 3.39

Fecund .................................. 49.2 1.24 44.2 1.66 †~19.3 3.04

Education1

No high school diploma or GED................... 10.9 0.69 ~7.5 0.83 6.8 1.55

High school diploma or GED..................... 30.6 1.04 28.7 1.66 33.9 4.31

Some college, no bachelor’s degree ................ 30.7 0.95 33.4 1.40 31.4 3.62

Bachelor’s degree or higher ..................... 27.8 1.14 30.4 1.49 27.9 3.59

Percent of poverty level2

0–149 percent ............................. 24.5 1.09 21.5 1.41 19.9 2.94

150–299 percent ............................ 29.1 0.99 28.0 1.44 26.6 4.56

300 percent or higher ......................... 46.4 1.12 50.5 1.77 53.4 4.69

Hispanic origin and race

Hispanic or Latina ........................... 14.7 0.73 13.9 0.88 12.4 2.03

Not Hispanic or Latina:

White, single race .......................... 69.2 1.08 69.3 1.35 67.1 3.05

Black or African American, single race ............. 9.1 0.69 10.4 0.92 14.2 2.73

Other or multiple races ....................... 7.0 0.58 6.4 0.77 6.3 1.46

. . . Category not applicable.

† Percentage is significantly different at the .05 level from the percentage in the ‘‘Ever considered adoption’’ column. That is, the 95-percent confidence intervals for the two percentage values do not

overlap.
 

~ Percentage is significantly different at the .05 level from the percentage in the ‘‘All ever-married women’’ column. That is, the 95-percent confidence intervals for the two percentage values do not
 

overlap.
 

1

Limited to women 22–44 years of age at time of interview. GED is General Educational Development diploma.
 

2

Limited to women 20–44 years of age at time of interview.
 
Page 32 [ Series 23, No. 27

Table 14. Number and percent distribution of ever-married women 18–44 years of age and ever-married women reporting current adoptionseeking behaviors, according to selected characteristics: United States, 2002

Currently seeking to adopt

Characteristic All ever-married women Currently seeking to adopt and taking steps to adopt

Number of women in denominator in thousands......... 35,845 716 479

Percent Standard Percent Standard Percent Standard

distribution error distribution error distribution error

Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 . . . 100.0 . . . 100.0 . . .

Age

18–29 years ............................... 23.7 1.06 21.4 5.57 16.1 6.04

30–34 years ............................... 22.2 0.80 22.3 4.28 22.8 5.86

35–39 years ............................... 25.2 0.99 34.6 6.92 40.8 8.12

40–44 years ............................... 28.9 1.17 21.7 4.63 20.3 5.52

Marital or cohabiting status

Currently married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79.0 0.90 77.5 4.58 81.7 5.04

First marriage ............................ 64.4 1.20 52.0 5.39 55.8 6.07

Second or later marriage ..................... 14.6 1.01 25.6 6.53 25.9 7.78

Formerly married ............................ 21.0 0.90 22.5 4.58 18.3 5.04

Parity

0 births .................................. 17.7 0.83 ~35.9 5.35 ~37.8 6.56

1 or more births ............................ 82.3 0.83 ~64.1 5.35 ~62.2 6.56

Ever used infertility services

Yes .................................... 18.3 0.82 ~42.5 5.75 ~43.7 7.15

No ..................................... 81.7 0.82 ~57.5 5.75 ~56.3 7.15

Fecundity status

Surgically sterile ............................ 36.1 1.19 39.0 8.11 46.2 9.59

Impaired fecundity ........................... 14.7 0.77 ~42.3 7.31 ~40.9 9.00

Fecund .................................. 49.2 1.24 ~18.7 3.83 ~12.9 3.93

Education1

No high school diploma or GED................... 10.9 0.69 11.2 3.62 12.4 4.65

High school diploma or GED..................... 30.6 1.04 33.3 5.78 37.1 6.57

Some college, no bachelor’s degree ................ 30.7 0.95 33.9 5.58 32.4 5.38

Bachelor’s degree or higher ..................... 27.8 1.14 21.7 4.97 18.1 6.09

Percent of poverty level2

0–149 percent ............................. 24.5 1.09 27.8 4.66 30.9 6.18

150–299 percent ............................ 29.1 0.99 21.0 5.58 21.5 7.91

300 percent or higher ......................... 46.4 1.12 51.2 6.11 47.6 8.26

Hispanic origin and race

Hispanic or Latina ........................... 14.7 0.73 21.8 4.75 21.4 5.48

Not Hispanic or Latina:

White, single race .......................... 69.2 1.08 ~48.6 6.43 ~51.2 7.90

Black or African American, single race ............. 9.1 0.69 ~20.5 4.91 22.5 6.63

Other or multiple races ....................... 7.0 0.58 9.2 3.48 5.0 2.62

. . . Category not applicable.
 

~ Percentage is significantly different at the .05 level from the percentage in the ‘‘All ever-married women’’ column. That is, the 95-percent confidence intervals for the two percentage values do not
 

overlap.
 

1

Limited to women 22–44 years of age at time of interview. GED is General Educational Development diploma.
 

2

Limited to women 20–44 years of age at time of interview.
 
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 33

Table 15. Number of women 18–44 years of age currently seeking to adopt a child not already known to them and percentage who prefer or

who would accept a child with the selected characteristic: United States, 2002

Characteristic Currently seeking to adopt

Number in thousands

Number of women in denominator1

......................................... 600 600

Percent who. . .

Prefer or

would

Prefer accept2

Sex of child

Boy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.9 95.0

Girl ............................................................ 34.6 97.2

Indifferent ........................................................ 36.5 ...

Race of child

Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.0 86.9

White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.1 91.4

Other race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.9 94.9

Indifferent ........................................................ 52.2 ...

Race of woman and child

Not Hispanic or Latina women:

White, single race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Black child ...................................................... – 83.6

White child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.2 100.0

Child of another race ................................................ 17.5 94.6

Indifferent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.5 ...

Black or African American, single race.......................................

Black child ...................................................... 32.9 87.5

White child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . – 75.0

Child of another race ................................................ * 92.7

Indifferent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.5 ...

Age of child

Younger than 2 years old ............................................... 49.2 94.1

2–5 years old ...................................................... 22.3 78.7

6–12 years old ..................................................... 16.1 58.6

13 years old or older ................................................. * 30.9

Indifferent ........................................................ 7.6 ...

Disability status

No disability ....................................................... 55.1 100.0

With a mild disability.................................................. 21.6 89.0

With a severe disability ................................................ * 30.3

Indifferent ........................................................ 22.8 ...

Number of children

Single child ....................................................... 56.3 100.0

Two or more siblings at once ............................................ 27.3 74.6

Indifferent ........................................................ 16.5 ...

. . . Category not applicable.
 

– Quantity zero.
 

* Figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision.
 

1

Current adoption seekers were asked about preferences if they were not seeking to adopt a child they already knew.
 

2

Only women who did not indicate a specific attribute were asked if they would accept a child of a different attribute. For example, only women who indicated they wanted a boy were asked if they
 

would accept a girl.
 

NOTE: This table replicates Chandra et al., 2005, Table 84.
 
Page 34 [ Series 23, No. 27

Table 16. Among children born to never-married women under 45 years of age, percentage who were relinquished for adoption, by race,

according to year of child’s birth: United States, before 1973–2002

Year of child’s birth

1989–1995 1996–2002

Race

Before

19731

1973–

19811

1982–

19881

(standard

error)1

(standard

error)2

3 All women ..............................

4 Black or African American women ...............

White women4............................

......... 8.7

......... 1.5

......... 19.3

4.1

0.2

7.5

2.0

1.1

3.2

0.9

–

1.7

(0.03)

(0.55)

1.0 (0.33) 
 

* 
 

1.3 (0.54) 
 

– Quantity zero.

* Figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision.
 

1

Infants relinquished at birth only (figures replicated from Chandra et al., 1999, Table 5).
 

2

Infants relinquished at birth or within the first month of life.
 

3

Includes women of other races, not shown separately.
 

4

Includes women of Hispanic origin and women of multiple races who choose this as the single race that best describes them.
 
Series 23, No. 27 [ Page 35

Appendix I
 

Sample Design and

Fieldwork Procedures

The 2002 National Survey of

Family Growth, or NSFG, was based on

12,571 interviews with persons 15–44

years of age (4,928 men and 7,643

women) in the household population of

the United States. Over 200 female

interviewers were hired and trained by

the survey contractor, the University of

Michigan’s Institute for Social Research,

under the supervision of NCHS.

Interviewing occurred from March 2002

until the end of February 2003. The

interviews were administered in person

in the selected persons’ homes. The

2002 sample is a nationally

representative multistage area

probability sample drawn from 121

areas across the country. The sample is

designed to produce national, not state,

estimates.

Persons were selected for the NSFG

in five major steps:

+	 Large areas (counties and cities)

were chosen first.

+	 Within each large area or ‘‘Primary

Sampling Unit,’’ groups of adjacent

blocks, called segments, were

chosen at random.

+	 Within segments, addresses were

listed and some addresses were

selected at random.

+	 The selected addresses were visited

in person, and a short ‘‘screener’’

interview was conducted to see if

anyone 15–44 years of age lived

there.

+	 If so, one person was chosen at

random for the interview and was

offered a chance to participate.

To protect the respondent’s privacy,

only one person was interviewed in each

selected household. In the 2002 survey,

teenagers and black and Hispanic adults

were sampled at higher rates than

others.

The NSFG questionnaires and

materials were reviewed and approved

by the CDC/NCHS Research Ethics

Review Board (formerly known as the

Institutional Review Board or IRB), and

by a similar board at the University of

Michigan. The female questionnaire

lasted an average of about 85 minutes.

All respondents were given written and

oral information about the survey and

were informed that participation was

voluntary. Adult respondents 18–44

years of age were asked to sign a

consent form but were not required to

do so. For minors 15–17 years of age,

signed consent was required first from a

parent or guardian, and then signed

assent was required from the minor.

Respondents in the 2002 survey were

offered $40 as a ‘‘token of

appreciation’’ for their participation. The

response rate for the survey was about

79%. For women, the response rate was

80%.

More detailed information about the

methods and procedures of the 2002

NSFG, including imputation of recodes

and variance estimation, is available

elsewhere (17,18).

Statistical Analysis

Statistics for this report were

produced using SAS software, version

9.1 (www.sas.com). Standard errors

were calculated, and tests of significance

performed, for selected comparisons in

this report. The statistical package

SUDAAN (www.rti.org/sudaan) was

used for the calculation of standard

errors, since it takes into account

complex sample designs such as that of

the NSFG. Significance of differences

between subgroups was determined by

two-tailed t-tests at the 5- and

10-percent level. No adjustments were

made for multiple comparisons. Terms

such as ‘‘greater than’’ and ‘‘less than’’

indicate that a statistically significant

difference at the 5-percent level was

found. Statements using the phrase ‘‘the

data suggest’’ indicate that the difference

was significant at the 10-percent level.

Terms such as ‘‘similar’’ or ‘‘no

difference’’ indicate that the statistics

being compared were not significantly

different. Lack of comment regarding

the difference between any two statistics

does not mean that significance was

tested and ruled out; the significance of

all possible pairs of statistics was not

tested.

Percentages are not shown if the

denominator is less than 50 cases, or the

numerator is less than 3 cases. When a

percentage or other statistic is not

shown for this reason, the table contains

an asterisk (*) that indicates ‘‘Figure

does not meet standards of reliability or

precision.’’ For most statistics, the

numerators and denominators are much

larger.

Effect of Rounding on

Reported Figures

It is standard procedure to round

percentages to one decimal place and

present weighted numbers in thousands

in NCHS reports. This causes a few

instances where the figures presented in

the text or tables cannot be reproduced

because the derived statistics in this

report are based on unrounded figures

that are weighted to produce national

estimates. For example, Table 7 lists the

total number of women currently

seeking to adopt a child as 901,000. The

result obtained by multiplying the total

number of women (55,742,000) by the

percent currently seeking to adopt (1.6)

is 891,872. The 9,000 difference is

caused by rounding the total number of

women down from 55,742,070,

truncating the more precise percentage

of women currently seeking to adopt,

1.6158705, and rounding the calculated

number up from 900,720.

Definition of Terms

This section provides brief

definitions of the variables used in this

report. More extensive definitions are

available elsewhere (19,33).

Age—A calculated variable based on

the respondent’s birth date (or age, if

birth date not given) at the time of the

interview.

Education—Reflects the

respondent’s educational attainment

measured at the time of the interview.

Results shown by education are limited

to those 22–44 years of age in order to

allow all respondents to report attending

college. But because this measure

includes respondents in their early

twenties who may still be attending

college, the percentage with a bachelor’s
Page 36 [ Series 23, No. 27

degree is smaller and the percentage

with some college is larger than if only

older respondents were analyzed.

Ever had a biological child—A

dichotomous variable that indicates

whether a man has ever fathered a child.

See Parity for women.

Ever used infertility services—

Although similar for women and men, is

slightly different. It is a dichotomous

variable indicating whether the

respondent or a spouse or partner had

ever sought medical help to have a

baby. Women were asked two separate

questions—one asked about ‘‘help to get

pregnant’’ and the other asked about

‘‘help to prevent miscarriage.’’ Men

were asked, ‘‘Did you or your wife ever

go to a doctor or other medical care

provider to talk about ways to help you

have a baby together?’’ This variable

was computed for all women but only

for men who had sexual intercourse.

Fecundity status—Based on the

woman’s self-report of her physical

capacity to conceive or bear a child at

the time of the interview. There were six

categories of fecundity status created in

the interview. These were collapsed into

three groups for this report as follows:

+	 Surgically sterile—The woman

indicated that she was surgically

sterile for either (a) contraceptive

reasons or (b) noncontraceptive

reasons.

+	 Impaired fecundity—The woman

indicated that she was (a)

nonsurgically sterile, (b) subfecund,

or (c) had a long interval of

unprotected sexual intercourse

without conceiving.

+	 Fecund—Residual category of

women who were not classified as

surgically sterile or with impaired

fecundity.

Hispanic origin and race—Defined

using multiple questions. First,

respondents of Hispanic or Spanish

ancestry are classified as ‘‘Hispanic or

Latino,’’ regardless of reported race.

Then, Non-Hispanic respondents who

are only white or only black are

classified as either ‘‘Non-Hispanic

white’’ or ‘‘Non-Hispanic black or

African American.’’ The residual

respondents (i.e., those of other single

races and those of multiple races), were

classified as ‘‘Non-Hispanic other.’’

Marital status—Measured at the

time of the interview, indicates the

respondent’s formal or legal marital

status. The formerly married category

includes those respondents who report

their formal marital status as widowed,

separated, or divorced.

Parity—Parity is the total number of

live births a woman has ever had as

distinguished from gravidity, which is

her total number of pregnancies.

‘‘Nulliparous’’ refers to women who

have not had a live birth; women who

have given birth to one or more babies

are defined as ‘‘parous.’’ Nulliparous is

used in this report rather than the more

ambiguous term, childless. For example,

a woman may be childless even though

she has given birth to a baby (i.e., she is

parous) because the child died or

because she relinquished it for adoption.

Similarly, a nulliparous woman may

have children through adoption or

step-parenting.

Percent of poverty level—A measure

of the total family income, adjusted for

the number of persons in the family,

relative to the annual definition of

poverty provided by the U.S. Census

Bureau. It is measured at the time of the

interview.

Sterility status—Based on men’s

self-reported ability to father children.

Men were not asked the same questions

women were that comprise the

‘‘fecundity status’’ variable for women,

but this variable is roughly equivalent.

The categories are:

+	 Not sterile—The man had not had

an unreversed vasectomy or other

sterilizing operation and was

physically able to father a child.

+	 Surgically sterile—The man reported

having an unreversed vasectomy or

another operation that made it

impossible for him to father a child.

+	 Nonsurgically sterile—The man was

not surgically sterile, but he

indicated that it was physically

impossible for him to father a child.
Vital and Health Statistics

series descriptions

SERIES 1.	 Programs and Collection Procedures—These reports

describe the data collection programs of the National Center

for Health Statistics. They include descriptions of the methods

used to collect and process the data, definitions, and other

material necessary for understanding the data.

SERIES 2.	 Data Evaluation and Methods Research—These reports

are studies of new statistical methods and include analytical

techniques, objective evaluations of reliability of collected

data, and contributions to statistical theory. These studies

also include experimental tests of new survey methods and

comparisons of U.S. methodology with those of other

countries.

SERIES 3.	 Analytical and Epidemiological Studies—These reports

present analytical or interpretive studies based on vital and

health statistics. These reports carry the analyses further than

the expository types of reports in the other series.

SERIES 4.	 Documents and Committee Reports—These are final

reports of major committees concerned with vital and health

statistics and documents such as recommended model vital

registration laws and revised birth and death certificates.

SERIES 5.	 International Vital and Health Statistics Reports—These

reports are analytical or descriptive reports that compare U.S.

vital and health statistics with those of other countries or

present other international data of relevance to the health

statistics system of the United States.

SERIES 6.	 Cognition and Survey Measurement—These reports are

from the National Laboratory for Collaborative Research in

Cognition and Survey Measurement. They use methods of

cognitive science to design, evaluate, and test survey

instruments.

SERIES 10.	 Data From the National Health Interview Survey—These

reports contain statistics on illness; unintentional injuries;

disability; use of hospital, medical, and other health services;

and a wide range of special current health topics covering

many aspects of health behaviors, health status, and health

care utilization. They are based on data collected in a

continuing national household interview survey.

SERIES 11.	 Data From the National Health Examination Survey, the

National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, and

the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey—

Data from direct examination, testing, and measurement on

representative samples of the civilian noninstitutionalized

population provide the basis for (1) medically defined total

prevalence of specific diseases or conditions in the United

States and the distributions of the population with respect to

physical, physiological, and psychological characteristics, and

(2) analyses of trends and relationships among various

measurements and between survey periods.

SERIES 12.	 Data From the Institutionalized Population Surveys—

Discontinued in 1975. Reports from these surveys are

included in Series 13.

SERIES 13.	 Data From the National Health Care Survey—These

reports contain statistics on health resources and the public’s

use of health care resources including ambulatory, hospital,

and long-term care services based on data collected directly

from health care providers and provider records.

SERIES 14.	 Data on Health Resources: Manpower and Facilities—

Discontinued in 1990. Reports on the numbers, geographic

distribution, and characteristics of health resources are now

included in Series 13.

SERIES 15.	 Data From Special Surveys—These reports contain

statistics on health and health-related topics collected in

special surveys that are not part of the continuing data

systems of the National Center for Health Statistics.

SERIES 16.	 Compilations of Advance Data From Vital and Health

Statistics—Advance Data Reports provide early release of

information from the National Center for Health Statistics’

health and demographic surveys. They are compiled in the

order in which they are published. Some of these releases

may be followed by detailed reports in Series 10–13.

SERIES 20.	 Data on Mortality—These reports contain statistics on

mortality that are not included in regular, annual, or monthly

reports. Special analyses by cause of death, age, other

demographic variables, and geographic and trend analyses

are included.

SERIES 21.	 Data on Natality, Marriage, and Divorce—These reports

contain statistics on natality, marriage, and divorce that are

not included in regular, annual, or monthly reports. Special

analyses by health and demographic variables and

geographic and trend analyses are included.

SERIES 22.	 Data From the National Mortality and Natality Surveys—

Discontinued in 1975. Reports from these sample surveys,

based on vital records, are now published in Series 20 or 21.

SERIES 23.	 Data From the National Survey of Family Growth—These

reports contain statistics on factors that affect birth rates,

including contraception, infertility, cohabitation, marriage,

divorce, and remarriage; adoption; use of medical care for

family planning and infertility; and related maternal and infant

health topics. These statistics are based on national surveys

of women and men of childbearing age.

SERIES 24.	 Compilations of Data on Natality, Mortality, Marriage, and

Divorce—These include advance reports of births, deaths,

marriages, and divorces based on final data from the National

Vital Statistics System that were published as National Vital

Statistics Reports (NVSR), formerly Monthly Vital Statistics

Report. These reports provide highlights and summaries of

detailed data subsequently published in Vital Statistics of the

United States. Other special reports published here provide

selected findings based on final data from the National Vital

Statistics System and may be followed by detailed reports in

Series 20 or 21.

For answers to questions about this report or for a list of reports published

in these series, contact:

Information Dissemination Staff

National Center for Health Statistics

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

3311 Toledo Road, Room 5412

Hyattsville, MD 20782

1–800–232–4636
 

E-mail: cdcinfo@cdc.gov
 

Internet: www.cdc.gov/nchs
 
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CS120831T32102 (08/2008)DHHS Publication No. (PHS) 2008–1979, Series 23, No. 27