Domestic or International? Factors Affecting Adoption Decisions

Hiromi Ishizawa, George Washington University
Kazuyo Kubo, Boston College

As international adoption becomes a viable option for many families, prospective adoptive parents now face several choices – adopt a US-born child (domestic adoption) or adopt a non-US born child (international adoption). However, little research has been conducted on the similarities and differences in characteristics of child and family by adoption type and decision-making among those who adopt domestically and internationally. We therefore ask: how do the characteristics of the child and family predict the type of adoption – foster care adoption, private domestic adoption, or international adoption? Then, we ask what factors are considered to be important in deciding whether to choose private domestic adoption or international adoption? We analyzed the 2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents and found that characteristics of the child and family and factors considered by adoptive parents differ by the type of adoption.