Children Thrive in Adoption

A recent study interviewed over 700 teenagers who had been adopted as infants. The study, the largest over of adopted teens and their families, looked at various indicators of well-being. Among other things, it found these teens received and benefitted from lots of support from family, friends, and others; they were involved in many positive, structured youth activities, such as sports, music, community organizations and religious programs; they saw themselves as being as strong as their peers in personal identity and self-esteem; Showed high levels of caring values and behaviors, such as volunteering. Another recent study compared government data on four groups: 1) children adopted into a two-parent family; 2) children born into a two-parent family; 3) children being raised by an unmarried mother; 4) children being raised by their grandparents. It found that: Children from Group 1 did well in school, repeating a grade at the rate of only 7 percent compared to 12 percent of children in Group 2. These studies show that adoption gives these children meaningful lives.

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