Top 5 Myths About Foster Care Adoption
Thanks to Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
MYTH Single parents cannot provide a healthy environment for an adoptive child.
REALITY Of children adopted from foster care in 2005, 32 percent were adopted by single parents or unmarried couples. An estimated 4 percent of adopted children are living with a lesbian or gay adoptive parent.
MYTH Children enter foster care because of juvenile delinquency.
REALITY In 2007, there were 114,000 U.S. children waiting in temporary care for a permanent family, through no fault of their own and as a result of abuse, neglect and/or abandonment. Most of these children (70 percent) are living in temporary foster homes. More than 20,000 will turn 18 and exit the system without an adoptive family.
MYTH The biological parent will be entitled to take the child back.
REALITY Once the child is made available for adoption by the court, the biological parent is unable to win back parenting rights. The average age of the waiting child is now 9 years old. More children are made available for adoption from foster care each year than are adopted.
MYTH Most children in foster care are African-American.
REALITY While African-American children are overrepresented in the foster care system, they account for 32 percent of children available for adoption.
MYTH Foster care adoption is expensive.
REALITY Foster care adoption is affordable with little or no cost to adopt.
