I read a post earlier about the Romanian orphans and I started to think: what about the American orphans? How many children are there in the foster care system right now? It took some digging and what I found astounded me! Before you have another child or think about adopting from outside the US look at the statistics below.
All the information below has been derived from :
The US Department of Health and Human Services - Administration for Children and Families
Children in foster care on 9/30/02 :
- 533,000
- 10.2
- 18.1 months = @ 1 1/2 yrs
- Black/non-hispanic - 37% - 195,425
- White/non-hispanic - 39% - 205,769
- male: 52%
- female: 48%
Other items of interest:
- During 2005, an estimated 1,460 children (not in foster care) (compared to 1,490 children for FFY 2004) died from abuse or neglect. link
- Three-quarters (76.6%) of child fatalities were caused by one or more parents
- Some children who died from maltreatment were already known to CPS agencies.
Granted this information is very outdated, but I think you get the idea. People see the headlines everyday about overseas adoptions by celebrities. What about OUR CHILDREN HERE, IN THE US? Doesn't anyone care about them?
