National
Adoption Month was initiated as Adoption Week in 1976 by Massachusetts
Gov. Michael Dukakis. Soon thereafter, President Gerald Ford nationalized
the week long commemoration. In 1990, the week was expanded to a
month because of the large number of participating states.
In a first-ever
profile of the nation's adopted children, a Census 2000 report found
that more than 2 percent of children in the United States — about
1.6 million — are adopted. The report "Adopted
Children and Stepchildren: 2000 [PDF]"
examines the characteristics of these children. Some facts:
· About
1-in-6 children are of a different race than the family householder.
· Of the more than 1.6 million adopted children in the United
States, 13 percent were foreign-born.
· Adopted children under 18 live in households that are better
off economically than those of biological children.
NEWS
RELEASE — In its first-ever profile of America's
adopted children, the U.S. Census Bureau said today that Census
2000 data show that adopted children under age 18 tended to live
in households that were better off economically than those of biological
children...(more).
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