Full Circle

The table at the bottom of this post shows the total number of intercountry adoption visas (both IR3 and IR4 visas) issued by the U.S. government since 1990. The total number of inter-country adoptions has tripled since 1990, but has started to decline recently.

This seems to match the anecdotes from our friends (like the Jennifer and Dano) who had a 2+ year waiting period before they received their referral to adopt their second daughter from China.

I got this information from Tom Davis, our good friend and president of Children’s HopeChest. Tom may be posting on this topic very soon on his very good blog. Like us, we are very pro-adoption, but when you consider that there are between 140-150 million orphans and vulnerable children in the world, how much of a difference can international adoption make?

If you haven’t read Melissa Faye Greene’s book There is No Me Without You, I would highly recommend picking up a copy. Matt and I read this book at the beginning of our process of adopting a child from Ethiopia. This book is packed with amazing information, stories, and background. In the heart of the book, Greene talks bluntly about inter-country adoption by describing adoption as a “lifeline” that one family throws to a child in another country, and that no one who is serious about adoption believes that it is the solution to the global orphan crisis we’re facing. [When I get the book back, I'll put the exact quotation there].

We couldn’t agree more. There are millions of children in the world who will never experience the miracle of adoption, they will never have a “forever family.” Who throws them a lifeline? [to be continued].

YEAR # of adoption visas issued
2006 – 20,679
2005 – 22,728
2004 – 22,884
2003 – 21,616
2002 – 20,099
2001 – 19,237
2000 – 17,718
1999 – 16,363
1998 – 15,774
1997 – 12,743
1996 – 10,641
1995 – 8,987
1994 – 8,333
1993 – 7,377
1992 – 6,472
1991 – 8,481
1990 – 7,093