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Effective artificial birth control methods beginning in the 1960s, followed by a decrease in social stigma associated with unwed pregnancy and, finally, the legalization of abortion in 1973, substantially reduced the number of healthy, Caucasian infants available for adoption. Although some infants remained available through private, independent adoptions, numbers were much smaller and biological mothers had increased control over the selection or eligibility determination of adoptive parents. Costs associated with these adoptions increased.

Already accustomed to seeing international adoptees in their communities and supported by public policy changes, Caucasian couples began to embrace the adoption of Native American, Hispanic, and African American children. A number of federal, state, and private agency policies provided financial, medical, tax, and employment incentives for the adoption of children considered otherwise hard to place. (These children were frequently older, members of sibling groups, and troubled by behavioral or developmental disabilities.) Support for these transracial adoptions eventually reopened interest in the international adoption of children who were frequently much younger than children available for domestic adoption, leading to an increase in international adoptions. In addition, same-race adoptions by minority group parents were encouraged, along with support for adoption by single parents and parents with limited incomes and resources.

Controversy still surrounds the adoption of children. Adults who were products of closed adoptions frequently search for their biological parents and, in the case of adoptions that occurred in this country, with some success. These adults have also sought policy changes aimed at opening information between biological parents and adoptees. Birth mothers have organized to support each other in searching for their relinquished children, to call the public's attention to the circumstances surrounding their early decisions, and to effect laws more responsive to openness in adoption records. While open adoption is more common than previously, there is substantial variation in the structure and success of these arrangements.

For numerous reasons, adopted children more frequently than their nonadopted peers have behavioral problems and receive psychiatric treatment. Some adoptions disrupt (terminate before adoption finalization) or dissolve (terminate after the adoption finalization). Questions arise regarding the existence of loss and grief experiences associated with adoption; the effect of transracial, international, and transcultural adoption on the identity of adopted children; and whether, and under what circumstances, adoption is in the best interest of children. Design and sampling difficulties hinder the use of research in addressing these questions. At the same time, adoption continues to be a positive reality in many U.S. families, and adopted children are more likely to be economically advantaged, excel academically, and advance socially than their nonadopted counterparts.

New reproductive technologies, including in vitro fertilization and donor insemination, surrogacy, and embryo donation have increased alternatives to traditional adoption although they involve various ethical, legal, and social questions. Support for transracial adoptions reopened interest in the international adoption of children who are frequently much younger than children available for domestic adoption, leading to an increase in international adoptions.

From its earliest practices, adoption has been recognized as an altruistic act--whether to provide a loving family to a child born to a young, unmarried mother; or to provide a life rich in social, economic, and educational resources and potential freedom from discrimination to impoverished biracial or minority group children who were often also victims of abuse or neglect; or to provide an alternative to abandonment, existence in the emotionally stark atmosphere of an orphanage, or even death, in the case of international adoptees. Some, however, call attention to the fact that in many cases, the adoption provides both a child and the opportunity to parent to individuals and couples who would otherwise be biologically unable to do so. These persons point to the extensive market that exists for adoptable children, particularly healthy infants, and to private adoption agencies and independent adoption facilitators as businesses that provide jobs and economic profit. Critics apply such terms as colonialism and cultural imperialism to international and transcultural adoptions.

Bibliography:

1) Kreider, Rose M. 2003. Adopted Children and Stepchildren: 2000. Census Special Reports, CENSR-6RV. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved December 3, 2007.

2) McGowan, B. G. 2005. "Historical Evolution of Child Welfare Services." Pp. 10-46 in Child Welfare for the Twenty-first Century: A Handbook of Practices, Policies, and Programs, edited by G. P. Mallon and P. M. Hess. New York: Columbia University Press.

3) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, Children's Bureau. 2006. "AFCARS Report: Preliminary FY 2005 Estimates as of September 2006." Retrieved December 18, 2006.

4) U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs. "Immigrant Visas Issued to Orphans Coming to the U.S." Retrieved December 12, 2006.

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