Update (Jan. 25): Fresh stats from the State Department indicate that adoptions of foreign children by Americans have fallen to a new low: less than 8,700 in 2012, down from a high of almost 23,000 in 2004. The New York Times has details.
CT recently noted how American evangelicals have pivoted to adopt other types of children in response.
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International adoptions worldwide dropped from a high of 45,000 in 2004 to an estimated 25,000 last year, prompting debate over whether restrictions designed to protect babies from abuse have been too successful.
The sharp decline comes amid a demonstrable surge of interest in adoption by U.S. evangelicals.
Evangelical giving toward adoption-related causes increased almost 15 percent in 2010, the last year analyzed by ECFA.
Christianity Today has reported regularly on international adoption news, including how adoption has surged in popularity among evangelicals, how the high-profile Haiti adoption scandal might impact such efforts, how crackdowns in Ethiopia reduced adoptions by 90 percent, and debate over the ethics of international adoption.
