American Attitudes towards Infant Adoption

In the National Council for Adoption's Adoption Fact Book IV, the article "American Public Attitudes Toward Infant Adoption" By Richard B. Wirthlin reports on a 2006 poll with the following questions:

1. For an unmarried woman with an unplanned pregnancy, sometimes choosing adoption is what it means to be a good mother. If you had been asked to agree/disagree with this statement before you learned your daughter was pregnant, how would you have responded? Now that you know your daughter is pregnant, do you agree/disagree with this statement in regards to other pregnant women (not your daughter)? Do you agree/disagree with this statement in regards to your own pregnant daughter? The article reports that 61% of those polled agreed with the statement, 23% were neutral, and 16% disagreed.
2. For an unmarried woman with an unplanned pregnancy, adoption is generally not the best option. If you had been asked to agree/disagree with this statement before you learned your daughter was pregnant, how would you have responded? Now that you know your daughter is pregnant, do you agree/disagree with this statement in regards to other pregnant women (not your daughter)? Do you agree/disagree with this statement in regards to your own pregnant daughter? The article reports that 16% agreed with this statement, 34% were neutral, and 50% disagreed.
3. For the child of an unmarried woman with an unplanned pregnancy, adoption is generally a positive option. If you had been asked to agree/disagree with this statement before you learned your daughter was pregnant, how would you have responded? Now that you know your daughter is pregnant, do you agree/disagree with this statement in regards to other pregnant women (not your daughter)? Do you agree/disagree with this statement in regards to your own pregnant daughter? The article reports that 51% agreed with this statement, 30% were neutral, and 19% disagreed.

The poll also asked "If you felt you had a realistic opportunity to adopt an infant domestically, would you attempt to do so?" 32% of those surveyed indicated they would attempt to adopt, given a realistic opportunity. "With 55 million married-couple households in the United States, this percentage extrapolates to 16 million married couples who say they would attempt to adopt an infant domestically... Adjust that figure for the number of married couples who are of appropriate parenting age and there are at least 10 million couples who would likely attempt to adopt an infant domestically if they felt they had a realistic opportunity to do so." Compare these numbers to the less than 23,000 infant domestic adoptions that occur each year, and over 1 million abortions each year.



You may find it helpful to read the chapters titled "Should She Make an Adoption Plan?", "Should We Adopt the Baby?", "Should They Marry?" and "Should She Parent Alone?" in our book "How To Survive Your Teen's Pregnancy."

November is National Adoption Month. Take time to research adoption with your pregnant daughter, along with single parenting and marriage. Then, no matter which of these roads she chooses, she can feel confident that the decision was made with care and thought instead of off-handedly. When things are tough in the future (because life can be hard no matter what we choose), she can remind herself that she actively chose her road instead of saying "I wish I had considered ______."