No News Is Good News: facts related to my article.

The following facts (related to my article) have been taken from the website www.adoptionuk.org/information

information taken from studies in England, on 31st March 2009.

FACTS ABOUT CHILDREN IN CARE:

• There were 60,900 children in local authority care.
• 57% were boys, 43% girls.
• 61% came to the social services' attention due to abuse or neglect.
• 73% were of white British origin
• 73% were in a foster placement, a 5% increase from the same date in 2008.

FACTS ABOUT THE AGES OF CHILDREN IN CARE:

• 5% of children in care on this date were under 1 year old.
• 16% were aged between 1-4.
• 17% were aged between 5-9.
• 41% were aged between 10-15.
• 21% were aged 16+

FACTS ABOUT ADOPTIVE PARENTS:

• 92% of adoptive parents were couples (3,000) 8% were single (270).
• 82% of adoptive parents were married.
• 6% of adoptive parents were hetrosexual and unmarried, 1% were unmarried homosexual, 2% were civil partners.

These following facts have been found on http://www.davethomasfoundation.org/ for American facts relative to my article.

(facts gathered October 2009)

• In North America, more than 500,000 children are in the foster care system, and nearly 145,000 of them are available for adoption.
• Children often wait three years or more to be adopted, move three or more times in foster care and often are seperated from siblings. The average age of waiting children is 8 years old.
• Last year, (2008) 29,471 children turned 18 and left the foster care system without an adoptive family.
• Nearly 40% of American adults (81.5 million people), have considered adopting a child, according to the National Adoption Attitude Survey. If just one in every five hundred of these adults adopted, every waiting child in foster care would have a permanent family. 

Facts about adoptive children from third world countries and LEDC's

facts found from www.jurgita.com

www.ehow.com/about_5208524_foreign-adoption-laws.html

• There are approximately fifty million orphans in Africa and the UN has calculated that another eighteen million are going to become orphaned due to parents dieing from diseases such as malaria and AIDS by 2010.

• International adoption has become a very popular choice among prospective parents who wish to add to their families by means of adopting one or more children. More than 17,000 American families chose to adopt internationally in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of State. They did so for a variety of reasons, from disappointment with previous experience with the domestic adoption processes to the chance to connect with another culture.
• More than half of the international adoptions from the United States for 2008 took place in four countries (per the U.S. Department of State): Guatemala, China, Russia and Ethiopia. California and New York were the top two states for international adoption, with more than 1,100 international adoptions finalized in each. The total number of adoptions, domestic and international, was 51,000 for the year 2002, per the U.S. Department of Human Services' census-derived numbers.

FACTS AND INFORMATION ABOUT CELEBRITY ADOPTIVE CHILDREN AND/OR ADOPTIVE PARENTS:

katherine heigl's adoptive children.

ADOPTED CELEBRITIES:

• Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek Philosopher.
• Edgar Allen Poe, Poet, Author.
• Leo Tolstoy, Author.
• Malcolm X, Civil Rights Leader and Activist.
• Nat King Cole, Singer and Musician.
• Steve Jobs, entrepreneur, co-founder of Apple.

ADOPTIVE CELEBRITY PARENTS:

• Angelina Jolie, actress.

• Bette Davis, actress.
• George Lucas, film director.
• Hugh Jackman, actor.
• Jamie Lee Curtis, actress.
• Julie Andrews, actress.
• Meg Ryan, actress.
• Nicole Kidman, actress.
• Ocar De La Renta, designer.
• Ozzy (and Sharon) Osbourne, musician.
• President Ronald Reagan, presidential politician.
• Sammy Davis Jr., entertainer, musician.
• Walt Disney- founder of the Disney company/ Disneyland.

I have found this section of research really interesting, and I feel as though I have learnt a great deal in comparison to what I did prior to gathering these facts. I was intruiged to learn about the vast numbers of children living in care, and also I find myself fascinated by the results I found for celebrity adoptive parents. Nearly all of my findings showed that the celebrities were in the entertainment business- particularly in the film industry (largely through acting), could this have any correlation to the modern culture of celebrity adoption?

Definately one to come back to!