From my understanding, you also have to jump through a lot more hoops to adopt an American kid. And U.S. law makes it easier for the birth mother to find that kid, if she ever chose to do so.
In general, public adoption agencies will only work with foreign nationals who are US residents. Nonresident foreign nationals can work with private agencies or arrange private adoptions, and I’m not aware of any additional restrictions imposed on them beyond what US nationals face.
The problem, of course, is lack of supply, which is why US prospective adoptive parents look to other countries, and part of the reason why parents from other countries do not come here to adopt.* There isn’t any pool of orphaned/abandoned/unwanted babies available for adoption in the US. Adoption here typically means finding a woman with an unwanted pregnancy and contracting to adopt when the baby is born (the “Juno” scenario) or negotiating an older child out of the foster-care system. The Juno method is labor-intensive because of the advertising and personal relationships involved, and so it’s hard to carry off from another country.
Not so! Demand for transracial adoptees, like any others in the US, exceeds supply. There have always been plenty of white parents willing to adopt black children, but traditionally, transracial adoption has been opposed by adoption agencies and organizations like the National Association of Black Social Workers. Generally, the concern is that such adoptions are culturally damaging to the African American community and disorienting to the child. It used to be that most agencies just would not permit transracial adoptions, but Congress outlawed race-conscious adoption decisions in 1996 (due in part to lobbying from groups representing adoptive parents, and in part to concerns about too many children being relegated to the foster system).
Certainly that’s a draw for many couples, but if I’m not mistaken, the countries currently with the most adoptions by Americans are China and Ethiopia, with Russia coming in third. South Korea is also popular. I think Vietnam is on the upswing, and Guatemala used to be big but has recently outlawed foreign adoption.
*Off-topic, but possibly of interest: Prospective parents from other countries do not come to the US to adopt, but they do often come here for fertility treatments, since many countries prohibit or put restrictions on treatments like surrogacy or sperm/egg donation.
Our son was adopted from Russia 6 years ago.
Why don’t Americans adopt in the US? There are many reasons but mainly - it IS more difficult and much riskier. Because we had a bio daughter already, we knew we wouldn’t be as likely to be chosen by a birth mother. And you’d have to worry about the birth mother changing her mind, the birth father suing for custody, both getting visitation rights, etc.
The next US option is adopting thru foster care. However, most foster kids are not adoptable because the US is VERY reluctant to terminate the bio parents rights, no matter what. By the time those rights are finally terminated, the kids are considerably older, have been bounced around repeatedly and are much more likely to have attachment problems. And then you may still have to adhere to court-ordered visitations to Grandparents, cousins, etc. We were told we should expect 3 foster placings before we would be able to get a child that is “adoptable.”
We imagined how heartbreaking it would be to have a child for up to 2 years only to have him returned to his birth parents! And we knew that even if our hearts could handle it, it would be intensely traumatic for our daughter to have her brother taken away! It just wasn’t a risk we were willing to take, knowing there are children throughout the world in orphanages waiting for families. (as for the black/white issue, even if you are open to any race the system would rather not place black children with white parents, or so we were told. So a black child is more likely to be placed in a black foster home rather than with white parents who want to adopt.)
These are just SOME of the many reasons people do not choose to or cannot adopt US kids.
Where did you get your understanding from?
Just reading a lot of accounts of the adoption process, like wombattver’s above.
Here is a recent article about how the international adoption process has tightened up in recent years.