Motivation towards international adoption

This study examined the demographic characteristics and motivations of parents who chose inter-country adoption. The researcher examined secondary data of 55 case files from a non-profit inter-country adoption agency.; The majority of parents were age 42-47, and mainly Anglo/Caucasian. Most were married, although there were 18 single parents in the sample. The majority of families were of high educational and income status and had no children prior to adoption.; Parental preference of children showed the majority preferring to adopt from Romania, and the gender of choice was female. All fifty-five of the sample denied ever being turned down by another adoption agency.; Parental motivation was grouped into seven categories. The reasons given were infertility, choice of single status, to provide a sibling to their child, humanitarian motivation, cultural reasons, a partner being unable to reproduce because of age, and other reasons. Findings indicate most married couples adopt due to infertility, and most single parents adopt due to their choice of single status.