Adoption of Children in I 951 by I . RICHARD PERLMAN and JACK WIENER

Adoption is the legaI process by which the relationship of parent and child is established between persons who are not so related by nature. This article, which is taken from a more detailed statistical report, suggests answers to certain questions about the circumstances under which adoptions take place. Who are the children being adopted? What are their ages, their race, their birth status? Who pi&es the children for adoption? What are the adoption rates in diflerent States? information give, however, an indication of what the national picture may be. These States are distributed among all regions of the country and include about a third of the total child population under age 21; they reported a total of 25,294 petitions for adoption during the year. The 25 States are not necessarily representative of all States in the country; in fact, they are somewhat more rural than the Nation as a whole, as indicated by the fact that the proportion of children living in urban areas in these States is less than that for the United States-49 percent as compared with 58 percent. As a result of this difference in urbanization, the rates of adoption may also be different, and the number of independent placements, the proportion of children born out of wedlock, and other factors may be underestimated in this report. The adoption rates varied widely among the 25 States. The number of children for whom adoption petitons were filed, per 10,000 children under age 21 in each State (excluding the Territories and possessions), ranged from 5.5 in Kentucky to 27.6 in Oregon, as shown in the listing below. T HE number of children adopted has increased sharply in recent years. In 1951 an estimated 80,000 petitions for adoption were filed in the United States-an increase of 60 percent from the number filed in 1944.1 Comparable data for those 2 years on the type of adoption -by relatives or nonrelatives-are available for only 11 States. In this small and perhaps unrepresentative group, however, the number of children adopted by stepparents or other relatives increased 65 percent between 1944 and 1951, and the number adopted by nonrelated persons went up 85 percent. Several factors account for the increase in the number of adoptions. Among them is the large number of homes broken by death, divorce, or desertion during and after World War II. In many instances the mother remarried, and the child was subsequently adopted by the stepfather. Another factor has been the increase since 1944 in the number of children born out of wedlock-a group representing a major source of adoptable children. Still another factor is the growing emphasis on finding permanent homes by adoption for children who have been in institutions and boarding homes for long periods of time with no continuing relationship with parents or other relatives.