An Economic Profile of the Glenrothes Area - Home Page
An Economic Profile of the Glenrothes Area - Home Page
An Economic Profile of the Glenrothes Area - Home Page
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4. Trends in Descriptive Statistics4.1. Prevalence <strong>of</strong> Child Adoption, 1880-1930 & 2000How common was adoption in <strong>the</strong> late 19th century? Did adoption become more popular in <strong>the</strong> early20th century in response to less stigma and wider social acceptance? Table 1 reports <strong>the</strong> estimatednumbers <strong>of</strong> biological, adopted, step, and foster children in U.S. households in 1880-1930 and 2000.Alaska and Hawaii are excluded from all years to maintain consistency across years. Although I includeNative Americans and Asians in <strong>the</strong> table, due to small sample size, estimates for <strong>the</strong>se races areunreliable in early census years. Throughout this paper, child is defined as any person under age 18 (age0 to 17) residing in a household whose relationship to <strong>the</strong> household head is reported as “child,”including biological, step, and adopted children. I also include foster children in <strong>the</strong> table even thoughfoster child is reported (not as “child” but) as co-resident nonrelatives in IPUMS. 8 It must be noted that<strong>the</strong> child type is always defined in relation to household head, while <strong>the</strong> relationship between a childand a spouse <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> household head is not directly identified. For example, consider <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> marriedtwo-parent households with children. In 1880-1930, in virtually all such households <strong>the</strong> household headis children’s fa<strong>the</strong>r and not mo<strong>the</strong>r. In <strong>the</strong>se households, children are labeled “biological” if <strong>the</strong>y have abiological fa<strong>the</strong>r, regardless <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir relationship to a mo<strong>the</strong>r. Thus, in our definition, biological childreninclude not only children who have two birth parents but also those who have a biological fa<strong>the</strong>r and astepmo<strong>the</strong>r. Similarly, children are labeled “adopted” when <strong>the</strong>y have an adoptive fa<strong>the</strong>r even if <strong>the</strong>irmo<strong>the</strong>r is a biological or step mo<strong>the</strong>r. As a result, adopted children in our definition include adoptedstepchildren (as in <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> a remarried husband adopting his wife’s biological children from herprevious marriage). 9 Accordingly, step children in our definition exclude children <strong>of</strong> a biological fa<strong>the</strong>rand a stepmo<strong>the</strong>r. Because our definitions <strong>of</strong> biological and adopted children overlap with“stepchildren” in its common usage <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> term, for comparison, I keep step children (in our definition)as a child type throughout <strong>the</strong> paper.According to Table 1, in 1880-1930, on average 0.26% <strong>of</strong> white children under age 18 in allhouseholds were adopted, compared to 2.2% in 2000. Although 0.26% may seem small, given <strong>the</strong> factthat even in 2000 when adoption seems ubiquitous <strong>the</strong> adopted children were only 2% <strong>of</strong> all children, itshows that adoption was surprisingly common in <strong>the</strong> earlier period. I find, however, no positive trend in<strong>the</strong> share <strong>of</strong> adopted children from 1880 to 1930 among whites. This could be that <strong>the</strong> literature’semphasis on a rising demand for agency adoption has been misplaced or that such increase was <strong>of</strong>fset8 Foster children refer to children who are temporarily cared for by foster parents while <strong>the</strong>ir birth parents are unable toperform parental duties due to financial, medical, or emotional reasons. Unlike adoptive parents, foster parents do not assumeparental rights. Historically, however, <strong>the</strong>se two concepts were not well differentiated.9 Note, however, that our definition <strong>of</strong> adopted children excludes those who are reported as a household head’s “adoptedbro<strong>the</strong>r (or sister),” “adopted nephew (or niece),” and “adopted grandson (or granddaughter)” even if <strong>the</strong>y are under age 18.6