The World >>

• 132 million children in the world have lost one or both parents.¹
• 87.6 million orphans live in Asia.
• 43.4 million orphans live in sub-Saharan Africa.
• 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Almost 1.5 million children live in public care in Central and Eastern Europe.

The United States >>

More than 500,000 children are in the United States foster care system. Approximately 129,000 children are currently waiting to be adopted from foster care.² On average, children waiting for adoption have been in foster care for 43.8 months (more than three-and-a-half years). Approximately 25,000 children “age out” of the foster care system each year.

Adoption >>

Between 118,000 and 127,000 children have been adopted in the United States every year since 1987. Of these adoptions, approximately 20,000 are international, 50,000 are from foster care, 25,000 are domestic agency adoptions, and 25,000 are private, independent adoptions. More than one-third of Americans have seriously considered adopting, but no more than 2 percent have actually adopted. Only 4 percent of families with children (1.7 million households) contain adopted children.