As the recession continues, and job losses and pay cuts loom on the horizon, some families are unable to raise the money needed for adoption, while others are thinking harder about placing their children for adoption.

An Aug. 31 article by Amy Flowers Umble of Virginia's Freelance Star newspaper provided the following details:

A June FindLaw study reported that six percent of potential adoptive parents in the United States have delayed adoption because of the recession. ...

Raising a child costs quite a bit -- the average parents spend $200,000 per child from birth through high school.

"'Unfortunate' doesn't even begin to describe it," said Adam Pertman, director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute in Boston. "It's heartbreaking to think that people could be placing their children because they lost jobs."

The decreased number of would-be adoptive parents hasn't impacted the likelihood that American children will be adopted, the Freelance Star reported, as the demand for U.S.-born children still outpaces the number of children who are available for adoption.

Labels: adoption_costs, economy

Posted By: Aspen/CRC