USCIS recently published their adoption statistics for 2010. The detailed report shows that the trend in international adoptions continues downward, from a peak of nearly 23,000 international adoptions completed in 2004 to just over 11,000 completed last year. While adoptions from top sending countries like China and Russia continue to decline, other countries have shown a marked increase in the number of adoptions.

The number of adoptions from Ethiopia grew again in 2010 but is leveling off after years of rapid increases. Since the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria has started meeting regularly and giving out referrals the number of adoptions there more than doubled from 2009 and should continue to grow.

Despite wait times of over 4 years for many families, China remained the top sending country for international adoptions, followed by Ethiopia. Russia and South Korea remained the 3rd and 4th most popular sending countries. Due to its inability to meet Hague Convention obligations, Guatemala was replaced by Ukraine as the fifth most popular sending country.

Over 1000 Haitian orphans were issued special humanitarian visas following the earthquake which are not counted in the total numbers for Haiti.

Many factors have contributed to the drop in numbers of international adoption, from the financial crisis to longer wait times for referrals. As countries continue to implement new adoption regulations and as the financial picture continues to improve we hope to see an uptick in adoptions for 2011.