BC Adoption Statistics

Adoption statistics in British Columbia can be divided into three categories:

B.C. government adoptions have increased significantly over the past few years, however, the numbers vary annually depending on the intensity of the governments' community outreach program on behalf of Waiting Children.

Unlike the national statistics, the total number of adoptions in British Columbia did not decline, increasing 3% over the previous year. This is probably due to the strong intercountry programs at BC licensed adoption agencies. British Columbia has a unique licensed adoption agency system not available in other parts of Canada. B.C. agencies are licensed to complete adoption from all countries in the world, thus giving them the flexibility to open new intercounrty programs as others close or slow down.

BC Adoption Statistics for 2006 are:

Waiting Children - 279
Intercountry Adoptions - 263
Domestic Adoptions - 63

British Columbia Adoption statistics show that the top 5 countries last year from which children were adopted into B.C. were:

1. China (80)
2. United States (46)
3. Ethiopia (16)
4. Russia (15)
5. Haiti (15)

At Sunrise, we facilitate adoptions from these and other countries. See our intercountry adoption programs for details.

The make-up of B.C. statistics should change significantly over the two years 2007 and 2008. China has slowed down dramatically; the United States will introduce procedures in 2008, which will drastically reduce the number of adoptions from that country. There have not been any Canadian agencies licensed in Russia for the past year, and there is a significant increase in adoptions from Ethiopia.

In short, the past statistical record is not a good indicator of what the future of adoption will look like.

Adoption Statistics in Canada

Despite the best efforts of Madonna and Angelina Jolie to create worldwide interest in intercountry adoption, the number of international adoptions in Canada has decreased over the past few years. (For a discussion on the reasons for this see The Future of Adoption). Most intercountry adoptions have historically gone to the Province of Quebec. In fact the government of that province has an adoption outreach program through which officials travel the world to encourage and facilitate intercountry adoptions. A significant number of adopting parents in most countries want to adopt girls when they have a choice. In 2006, Canada maintained that preference for girls by a factor of 2 to 1. (1022 to 512)

In fact, the number of adoptions in Canada in 2006 has dropped 18% from 2005. This is the first significant drop in a decade. Looking at the countries that are slated to close or slow down adoptions, it appears likely that there will be a further significant decrease in 2008 and perhaps a larger one in 2009.

Countries open, close or slow down their adoption programs (Russia being an example) so just because a country is high (or low) on the list, in terms of number of adoptions, does not mean it will be in the same relative position two years later. Lastly please note that the figures for some countries include a large number of relative adoptions and few agency placements (India and the Philippines are historical examples)

Adoptions in Canada Last Year:

At Sunrise we facilitate adoptions from these countries. For detailed information about them please click on our Intercountry Adoption Programs .