Dusty, good point and sadly I must agree that children who are in foster care, unless they (the children) are very young, do stand a slim chance of being adopted.
However, it appears that when it comes to the infertile sect of adopters looking for adoptions through surrogate mothers, adoption is in high demand and becoming big business here in the states. Following is an excerpt by Nancy Ashe written for About.com:
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BIG BUSINESS:
Adoption Services Valued At $1.4 Billion
Report by Nancy Ashe Copyright © 2001 About.com, Inc.
"An industry analysis of Fertility Clinics and Adoption Services by Marketdata Enterprises of Tampa, FL, has placed a $1.4 billion value on adoption services in the US, with a projected annual growth rate of 11.5% to 2004. According to a report from PR Newswire, this is the only analysis of this business sector ever undertaken.
Some details:
In 1999, there were 138,000 US adoptions;
There are 4,500 adoption services providers in the US, which include 2,000 public agencies, 2,000 private agencies, and 500 adoption attorneys;
The number of attorneys involved in adoption has doubled over the past 10 years;
Gross income for small agencies can come to $400,000 per year, and $10+ million for large agencies.
Much of the present and future growth is attributable to the rise in international adoptions.
Marketdata's analysis places adoption costs between $15,000 - $30,000, and describes adoption as 'complex, and stories of unscrupulous operators abound in this loosely regulated field.' "
From "About.Com: About Adoption"
Reprinted with Permission of Author
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My hope in the above post was that some of these children up for abortions could just as well be placed into adoption instead of just being aborted. There is probably way more to it than my simple mind is seeing though.
Skunk