www.onetruegift.com

November is National Adoption Month, and Abby's One True Gift Adoptions and ABC5 want to educate central Iowa about adoption and promote awareness. Please visit Abby's One True Gift Adoptions link below for more information.

There are 1.5 million adopted children in the United States, over 2% of all U.S. children

On any given day in North America, nearly 600,000 children are in the foster care system, and more than 150,000 of them are available for adoption, just waiting for the right family to find them

There are 510,000 children in the U.S. foster care system; 129,000 of these children are available for adoption

More children become available for adoption each year than are adopted. In 2006, 79,000 children had parental rights terminated by the courts, yet only 51,000 were adopted

A child in foster care can wait up to five years to be adopted, average is 36 months

The average age of the child waiting to be adopted from foster care is eight years old

Each year, 20% of children (26,517 in 2006) exit foster care at age 18 without an adoptive family

Nearly 40 percent of American adults, or 81.5 million people, have considered adopting a child

If just one in 500 of these adults adopted, every waiting child in foster care would have a permanent family.

Source:  Department of Health & Human Services (January 2008), Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System