Actually your source was stupid. It didn’t explain why those 2 million werent weren’t actually doing the adopting. It’s clearly because they all want infants and not older children.
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About 135,000 children are adopted in the United States each year. Of non- stepparent adoptions, about 59% are from the child welfare (or foster) system, 26% are from other countries, and 15% are voluntarily relinquished American babies.”
“There are 107,918
foster children eligible for and waiting to be adopted. In 2014, 50,644 foster kids were adopted — a number that has stayed roughly consistent for the past five years. The average age of a waiting child is 7.7 years old and 29% of them will spend at least three years in foster care.”
“The average child waits for an adoptive family for more than three years. 11 percent spend 5 years or more waiting for a family (43,083 children).
The average age of children waiting for an adoptive family is 8.”
“On any given day, there are nearly 428,000
children in foster care in the United States. In 2015, over 670,000 children spent time in U.S. foster care. Unfortunately, instead of being safely reunified with their families — or moved quickly into adoptive homes — many will languish for years in foster homes or institutions.
How long does the average child spend in the foster care system?
More than 60% of children in foster care spend two to five years in the system before being adopted. Almost 20% spend five or more years in foster care before being adopted. Some never get adopted.”
US Adoption Statistics may surprise you as nearly 100 million Americans have adoption in their immediate family. Learn more here.
adoptionnetwork.com