Whenever possible, adoptive placements are made with families that already have an existing relationship or attachment to the child (relatives and foster parents) and every effort is made to keep siblings together.

Adoption Statistics

• More than 2,700 children were adopted through the Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS) and private adoption agencies in 2009.
• A relative (46 percent) or foster parent (48 percent) adopted 93 percent of the children.
• 82 percent of children who had siblings in foster care were adopted with at least one of their siblings – 52 percent with all their siblings.
• Today there are approximately 5,309 children in the foster care system whose parents' rights have been terminated. For approximately 3,826 of those children the goal is adoption.

How it works

• The DHS Adoption Services Program provides services to children whose parental rights have been terminated due to child abuse or neglect and to families who want to adopt.
• Services are provided either directly by local DHS office adoption staff or through contracts with 49 private Michigan child-placing agencies.

Adoption Assistance

• Many children who are available for adoption qualify for adoption assistance to help families with some of the costs of bringing children into their homes through adoption. Adoption assistance may consist of support subsidy (financial support), medical subsidy (payment for certain remedial services) and assistance with the administrative costs of processing the adoption.
• Although not all adopted children are eligible for adoption assistance, for eligible children, adoption assistance continues until the child turns 18.
• More than 27,000 adopted children are receiving ongoing support subsidy.
• Children receiving adoption assistance generally have special circumstances that make finding an appropriate adoptive home more challenging - they may be older children, members of a racial or ethnic minority, part of a sibling group, or have physical, mental or emotional impairments.
• The total amount of adoption support subsidy paid to adoptive families by the state of Michigan is approximately $216 million annually. The amount of medical subsidy is more than $7 million annually.

For more information

• For more information on children awaiting adoption in Michigan go to www.mare.org
• For more information on children awaiting adoption in the U.S. go to www.adoptUSkids.org
• For more information on public adoption policies and data go to www.michigan.gov/adoption.