Fifteen of the respondents had special needs adoptions. Of them, seven also had non-special needs adoptions. Due to nearly 50% of them falling in both categories, no comparison of responses was done.
Fifteen respondents had children placed for adoption that were older than 12.8 months (the mean age of placement). Of them, eleven had also had children placed at less than 12.8 months. Since this is over two-thirds of the respondents falling in both categories, no comparison of responses was done.
When the results are taken without dividing by categories (emotional vs. factual, international vs. domestic, etc), people seem to adopt because they love children, they want a child in their life, and because they are unable to have children by birth. Infertility was the most frequently mentioned reason found in the research (seven articles in the journals-27, 29, 40, 50, 51, 70, 78- and 17 times in newspapers, magazines, and newsletters -3, 7, 8, 14, 31, 34, 35, 36, 38, 53, 56, 59, 72, 73, 75, and in two letters from adoptive mothers to the author ), but was only mentioned by 62% of these respondents. However, love of children appears almost as frequently in the research (six of the journal articles -23, 24, 27, 29, 51, 68), but wanting to share life with a child is only found twice in the journals (45, 66) and twice in adoption magazines (36, 54).
By further dividing the questions into the categories of emotional reasons and factual reasons, the emotional reasons seem to be given central consideration more often. Again, love of children had the highest percentage of consideration by these respondents (81%), with wanting to share life with a child just behind at 79% central consideration. Emotional reasons that had a higher frequency in the literature, such as religious beliefs (23, 24, 29, 45, 62, 66, 48 ), wanting a child of a certain sex (30, 76, 27, 29, 41, 51), and wanting to improve their marriage (23, 24), were not given much consideration by this group of adoptive parents.
The most frequently mentioned factual reason for adopting was infertility both in the literature (professional and popular) and for this group of parents. However, as just stated, infertility was not the number one reason in this study. Overall, factual reasons seemed to be given less consideration. In the literature, having been the child's foster parent appears in six articles (23, 24, 45, 52, 68, 78) and five times in the popular press (4, 21, 22, 44, 49), but it was not a consideration for over 90% of these parents. This is probably due to the previous research concentrating on special needs adoptions, whereas these adopters had children placed at very young ages. Also, loss of a biological child is found in three articles (23, 24, 45), but was not a consideration for 84% of these parents. In this study, when it was mentioned, abortion or miscarriage was often given as the reason for the death of the child. Generally, these adopters seemed to want babies, so losing a child through miscarriage was a death to them, and adopting an infant was the way to realize their dream of parenting. This also helps explain why 81% said that pregnancy being dangerous for the woman was not a consideration. Sixty-two percent could not conceive (or at least carry a pregnancy to term. The question was worded "not able to have a child by birth"). In addition, 22% of the respondents had birth children (to be thorough, some of those children were born after the adopted child joined the family).
There were two questions on the survey that specifically asked about international adoption. These reasons were not found in the literature, but rather in popular magazines and newspapers (22, 59, 72). Fifty-eight percent of international adopters said they chose international adoption to get a young child, because there were not many healthy babies available for adoption domestically. Ten percent of domestic adopters said the same thing. There were three international adopters who also had domestic adoptions, and these families were included under both categories (international and domestic adopters), so that most likely accounts for the 10%. The other reason, adopting internationally to get a young child because the prospective adoptive parent was was told they were too old to adopt a young child domestically, was a consideration for 47% of international adopters and 27% of domestic adopters. Perhaps these domestic adopters had considered adopting internationally at some point, then did not. These two factual reasons were not a consideration for 70% and 81% (respectively) overall of those who answered the survey.
People who adopted domestically seemed to give more consideration to infertility (90%) than international adopters (64.7%). Other reasons that were given more consideration by domestic adopters were knowing there was a child just waiting for them to adopt him/her and having always known they would adopt a child someday. These emotional reasons were only given central consideration by approximately one-third of those who answered the questionnaire, yet were given at least slight consideration by 82.5% and 65% respectively of domestic adopters.
Fifty percent of the respondents said that their religious beliefs were not a factor in their adoptions. Yet, in the literature, it is mentioned in six articles (23, 24, 29, 45, 62, 66) as a reason for adopting, in addition to one article in an adoption magazine (48). Pity and social responsibility are each mentioned three times in separate articles (23, 24, 29, 27, 45, 68), and in two newspaper reports (49, 57). These two, pity and social responsibility, were expressed in one question on the survey, "I knew children were hurt by not having families, and I wanted to help." Both of these reasons, religion and pity/responsibility, were given at least a slight consideration by 84% of those people who had both birth and adopted children. Seven of the thirteen families with both birth and adopted children had a special needs child, so it was not surprising that feeling they could help a special needs child was a consideration. This reason is also mentioned in three of the journal articles (23, 24, 68). Again, not surprisingly, infertility was a consideration for 86% of those without birth children. However, it was also a consideration for 61% of those with birth children. This could either be due to secondary infertility (being able to carry one child to term but not another) or, perhaps, to adoption preceding the birth of a child that became possible with more advanced infertility treatments. This question was not asked.
Older cohorts (12 respondents over age 45) gave more consideration to the international reasons. Fifty percent said both those reasons were a factor in their decision to adopt. Considering that six of these 12 had international adoptions, this makes sense! And, six of the 30 respondents between 36 and 45 years old had international adoptions, so it makes sense that 20% chose international adoption over domestic adoption to ensure themselves a young child. Only 3% were told they were too old to get a young child domestically. These respondents also adopted more often to get a sibling for a child already in the home. This reason was also mentioned in three articles in magazines and newspapers (5, 15, 63) and in four journal articles (23, 24, 27, 29).
