The overall number of U.S. adoptions has dropped significantly in recent years, straining the viability of many adoption agencies and drawing some into conduct that authorities describe as unethical or worse, the Associated Press reported today. Would-be adoptive parents confront the specter of long waiting times and high fees, and many face pressure to spend lavishly on self-promotional advertising if they want to compete for a chance to adopt an infant. Chuck Johnson, CEO of the National Council for Adoption, estimates that 1 million families are trying to adopt at any given time. In the absence of comprehensive federal figures, Johnson’s council, which represents more than 120 adoption agencies, periodically tries to tally the total number of adoptions in the U.S. Its latest count, released in February, showed a 17 percent drop from 133,737 adoptions in 2007 to 110,373 in 2014. The Independent Adoption Center declared bankruptcy, leaving more than 3,000 clients in the lurch and blamed the bankruptcy on “societal changes” that increased the number of parents seeking to adopt domestically while shrinking the pool of expectant mothers open to having their babies adopted. Many agencies specializing in international adoptions have closed in recent years, and others have struggled. The latest federal figures, for the 2016 fiscal year, reported 5,372 adoptions from abroad, down more than 76 percent from the high of 22,884 in 2004. America World Adoption, which has offices in 21 states, has seen its caseload drop by more than 50 percent over a decade — from 447 international adoptions in 2005 to 208 last year.
