Children Who Are Adopted by Relatives on the Rise

The per­cent­age of kids adopt­ed by rel­a­tives increased by 72% between 2000 and 2013. 

In 2013, approx­i­mate­ly 51,000 chil­dren from the child wel­fare sys­tem were adopt­ed. Young chil­dren, ages birth to 5 (58%) and non-His­pan­ic white chil­dren (47%) com­prised the largest pro­por­tion of kids adopt­ed. Fos­ter par­ents adopt­ed 58% of these kids, with rel­a­tives (31%) and non­rel­a­tives (26%) also adopting.

Explore new Fos­ter Care Adop­tion data avail­able for the nation, states and the Dis­trict of Colum­bia in the KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter:

• Chil­dren in child wel­fare sys­tem who have been adopted
• Chil­dren in child wel­fare sys­tem who have been adopt­ed by age group
• Chil­dren in child welare sys­tem who have been adopt­ed by pre-adop­tive rela­tion­ship with adop­tive parents
• Chil­dren in child wel­fare sys­tem who have been adopt­ed by race and His­pan­ic origin