Abstract
ACCORDING to the popular press and even some scientific journals, family life in the United States is in danger of breaking down. True, in our lifetime we have seen the character of family life changing in many ways. But there is undeniably strong evidence that families are still important to us. In the 10 years following the war, the number of families in our country increased by 14 percent. At the same time the birth rate, to the astonishment of predictors, continued to rise to an all-time high. Individual families have increased in size as well-many more third and fourth children are being born. Along with this increase in natural families, there has been a tremendous increase of interest in adoptions. More childless couples are seeking to have children through the aid of fertility clinics, and the number of adoptions has increased 80 percent in 10 years. In the past adopting a child was relatively easy. Orphanages were full of children and few people wanted them. The baby supply was large; the demand small. But today exactly the reverse is true. The demand for white babies to adopt far exceeds the supply. Many older children and children of minority groups need homes, but the great demand in adoption is for white infants. Though 50,000 babies are born each year to unmarried white mothers-the chief source of the supply of babies for adoptionthis number falls far short of meeting the demand. For every infant available for placement by agencies, there are probably 10 requests from couples wanting a baby.
Published Version
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