Would-be parents turn to foster kids as adoption costs rise

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

Would-be parents turn to foster kids as adoption costs rise

The recession has pushed the high cost of private adoptions out of reach for many prospective parents, prompting more of them to look into adopting hard-to-place foster children.
At Adoption-Link in Oak Park, Ill., a lot of people call to inquire about private adoptions, but when told the fees, they say, "Oh my goodness, I can't afford that," says director Margaret Fleming. She refers them to foster care. 

Private adoptions can cost $20,000 or more because of agency, travel and birth-mother expenses. Many parents want healthy newborns, so demand typically exceeds supply. Foster-care adoptions can cost nothing because states pick up the tab. Many of the 129,000 foster kids available for adoption are older — median age is 8 — and are more likely to have emotional or physical problems.

Applications for private adoptions are slowing, but those for foster care are holding steady or increasing, according to interviews with state officials and more than a dozen large adoption agencies. 

"The pendulum is swinging," says Sharen Ford, of Colorado's Department of Human Services. She sees two primary reasons: cost and the decline in the number of foreign-born orphans available since several governments changed their adoption policies. Guatemala and Vietnam have stopped taking new U.S. applications; Russia and China have tightened eligibility.

In November, Ford says, an adoption fair in Colorado Springs drew 1,300 people, and 260 decided to adopt foster children. Ford says many were surprised to learn that the adoptions cost nothing and that most of the kids get state health insurance and monthly subsidies. She says Colorado's foster-child adoptions are on pace to increase 8% this year.
In Michigan, the number of families given new licenses to become foster parents, often the first step toward adoption, increased from 65 in November to 122 in January, says Edward Woods of the Michigan Department of Human Services.

"Our adoption inquiry rate is as high as it's ever been," says Dixie Davis, president of The Adoption Exchange, a national organization. She says it got 3,284 inquiries in March, up 9% from a year ago.

There are no current national figures on adoption of foster children. In 2007, the most recent year for which government figures are available, there were 51,000 adoptions of foster children, a number largely unchanged since 2002. There are about 80,000 private adoptions each year, the National Council for Adoption says. 

Agencies report increased interest in foster kids: 

• Arizona Adoption & Foster Care, a private agency in Mason, Ariz., has 79 families approved and waiting to adopt from foster care, up from 49 a year ago. Its number of such adoptions doubled last year to 30, and so far this year it has handled 19, director Marcia Reck says. 
• Adoptions Together in Silver Spring, Md., is getting 50 inquiries a month, up from 40 a month less than a year ago. 
• At Bethany Christian Services in Grand Rapids, Mich., adoptions from foster care rose from 402 in 2007 to 459 last year. Kinship Center, a private agency in Salinas, Calif., has been getting 20% more inquiries for foster care in the past six months, executive vice president Carol Bishop says.

Parents who adopt foster kids say the subsidies, which can range from $300 to $1,000, are helpful, but what motivates them is their desire to give children a home.
"I knew there was a real need," says Shauna Brown, who adopted two sisters, now 6 and 9, from foster care last year. In Texas, Terra Coyle, 50, says she felt drawn to picture ads of needy foster kids. Last year, she and her husband adopted two girls, each of whom gets a $400 monthly subsidy. She views the money as "icing on the cake." She says adoption is "the best thing I've ever done." Her 8-year-old told her, “I just love being part of this family.”