Number of Foreign and Domestic Adoptions About Equal

More U.S. Parents Look to Adopt Overseas
Deb Myers and her husband, Peter, are expecting their fifth child this month, a young girl they are adopting from China. They already have three biological children and a son adopted from India.

"A few generations ago, we would have just been getting started," said Peter, a pastor in New Market, Md., of his large family.

Across the country on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, Chris and Rachelle Castleberry are raising twin toddlers Olivia and Vivienne. They were adopted from China last year, after a complex, at times frustrating process that took two years to complete.

The number of Americans deciding to adopt children from overseas is soaring, even amid high costs, mountains of paperwork and as some countries, notably China, are tightening requirements for eligible parents. In 2006, the U.S. Department of State issued 20,679 visas for orphans being adopted from other countries. This is up from just under 7,100 in 1990, but down from 22,728 in 2005...

Domestic infant adoptions peaked in 1970 at 89,200, and dropped off significantly following the legalization of abortion and the availability of birth control. In comparison, 22,291 U.S. infants were adopted domestically in 2002, the most recent data available, according to the National Council for Adoption. That's down from 26,672 in 1992.