Motivation and Characteristics of Families Who Adopt Children with Special Needs

Abstract

In recent years, the field of adoption has begun to focus on the needs of the child rather than those of the parents through the advent of permanency planning and subsidized adoption of special needs children. Nontraditional parents (older, single, black, lower income) are adopting many of these children, often through the foster care system. The Special Needs Adoption Project, designed to provide a descriptive profile of adoptive families of special needs children, found that a majority of the adopted children were adopted by foster parents. These families were predominantly white, had a median annual income of about $19,000, and were frequently very active in their church. Additionally, there was a predominant family type: very adaptable, flexible, and having family members who were very close to one another.