Reports
and Research
The Dave Thomas Foundation funds a Harris Poll study every five years to understand how Americans view adoption.
The last revision was in June 2022.
The results of the revised study can be found: here.
Some key findings of the Dave Thomas study of
"National Foster Care Adoption Attitudes" are:
National Attitudes Study, 2012 Conclusions
- U.S. adults are considering foster care adoption more often than any other type of adoption, but misperceptions abound about the children waiting to be adopted and the foster care adoption process.
- Almost three quarters of American adults (72 %) have a very favorable opinion of adoption and almost two-thirds (69%) believe we as a society should be doing more to encourage foster care adoption.
- Although 89% of Americans are familiar with adoption in general, 79% of Americans are familiar with foster care adoption.
- Yet, given this large pool of potential adoptive parents who are both familiar with the issue and considering acting (48 million adults), 114,000 children still wait to be adopted from the U.S. foster care system.
- This study is still available from, 2012.
National Attitudes Study, 2017 Conclusions
- The numbers of foster kids who are eventually be able to win admission to college is up to 50 percent and of those 21% actually attain a bachelor’s degree.
- The perception that adoption from the foster care system is very difficult or extremely difficult has declined to 37%.
- The understanding that adopted kids are kids just like other kids who have occasional problems with school or learning has increased to 67%.
- This study can be found, 2017.
National Attitudes Study, 2022 Conclusions
- See for yourself, here.