The National Survey of Adoptive Parents: Benchmark Estimates of School Performance and Family Relationship Quality for Adopted Children

The National Survey of Adoptive Parents (NSAP) was the first largescale population survey of adopted children that was nationally representative of all adopted children in the United States, including children of all adoption types: children adopted internationally, children adopted from the foster care system, and children adopted through private domestic avenues. This new resource represents a wealth of data about the characteristics, well-being, and adoption-related experiences (including need and use of post-adoption services and supports) of adopted children and their families. However, there is potential for misinterpretation of some indicators if there are no comparable benchmark estimates for the general population of children. For example, if estimates from NSAP show that 75% of adopted children have a desired outcome and 25% experience a negative outcome, that means something different if the comparable rates for all children are 90% and 10%, than if the comparable rates are 70% and 30%.