American interest in adopting foreign children is stronger than ever. So why is the United States adopting fewer of them? According to early projections by the State Department, foreign adoptions have dropped an estimated 10% from last year-the fourth straight year of decline since the high-water mark of 22,884 in 2004. Experts say the downward trend is likely to continue as countries such as Russia, Guatemala and China, which in recent years had been among the largest providers of orphans for adoption, have either dialed back their programs or ended them entirely.

In China, a process that used to take a year-and was lauded for being efficient, transparent and affordable-now takes 31 months and is expected to get longer. China says increased prosperity in the country means fewer abandoned children. Russia, Ukraine and South Korea, all facing declining birthrates, are encouraging domestic adoption and making fewer children available to foreigners. The average cost has also soared to $40,000, the most expensive in the world. At least 600 approved adoption applications submitted by Americans have been returned to their agencies without matches. Click here to view adoption graph.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 at 6:20 pm and is filed under International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.