AIDS orphans (4)
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In many wealthy countries, the ratio of couples who want to adopt
children to the number of domestically available able-bodied children
eligible for adoption is high. Estimates range from 3.3:1 to 5:1 in
the U.S., where 1 in 6 couples seeking to have a child is infertile.
As a result, inter-country adoptions have become increasingly feasi-
ble and popular, with many Americans and Europeans adopting children
from developing nations. U.S. mothers adopt the greatest number of
orphans from China and Russia.
Given the 12.1 million AIDS orphans in Africa (not to mention orphans
from war or other causes), why is it so comparably difficult for
adopting parents to seek to adopt children from Africa? Why are there
so few organizations that exist to assist with placing African or-
phans in loving homes in the U.S. and Europe?
So far, the number of inter-country adoptions is relatively small. In
1999 there were 16, 396 orphans adopted from other countries adopted
by U.S. mothers. Too small scale to make a significant dent in the
number of African orphans, but from the perspective of the adopted
child, the significance is overwhelmingly positive.
And the potential to increase the number of adoptions is consider-
able. According to the 1988 National Survey on Family Growth, about 2
million U.S. women ages 15 to 44 (3.5%) had ever sought to adopt a
child. Of these, 1.3 million did not adopt and are no longer seeking.
620,000 have adopted one or more children. 204,000 are currently
seeking to adopt. (Bachrach, London, Maza, 1991) Similarly, according
to the data from the National Surveys of Family Growth from 1973,
1982, 1988, and 1995, there were 9.9 million women who had ever con-
sidered adoption, 16% had taken steps towards adoption, and 31% of
these had actually adopted a child. (National Center for Health Sta-
tistics, 1999)
These data suggest that well-timed information could make a differ-
ence in a woman's choice and assist her in completing the adoption. I
believe that if it were easier to adopt, more children would find
loving homes. Anecdotally, being a middle aged, middle class person
from the U.S. (currently living in Belgium), I have known several
women and/or couples who would love to adopt a child from Africa.
What do you think? Anyone want to create such an organization?
Karen Hoehn
mailto:karen@healthstrat.com
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