Study sheds light on adoption trends

International adoption is moving from a robust but largely unmonitored process towards a smaller but better regulated system.

A study carried out by the Donaldson Adoption Institute in New York found the trend has moved towards the adoption of older children, some of whom have serious special needs, rather than the adoption of infants.

The study included surveys of 1,500 adoptive parents and adoption professionals in sending and receiving countries, as well as interviews with senior policymakers in 19 nations including Ireland. It found that the international implementation of the Hague Convention has resulted in an increase in legal, safe, and appropriate adoptions for children for whom no permanent options exist to be raised in families.