adoption

More than half of U.S. states saw a decline in licensed foster homes from 2021 to 2022. In Nevada, the decline was nearly 18%. In South Carolina, it was a 61% decline, the largest of any state.

Health & Safety

Kids housed in casino hotels? It's a workaround as U.S. sees decline in foster homes

5:00am June 14, 2023

by Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez

A nationwide decline in foster home spots has led to dire situations around the country. In rural northeastern Nevada, officials resorted to housing children in casino hotels for short stints.

Florida's only baby box launched at a fire station in Ocala on Dec. 18, 2020. For the first time, a newborn was surrendered there recently.

A newborn was surrendered to Florida's only safe haven baby box. Here's how they work

3:46pm January 06, 2023

by Giulia Heyward

A newborn was surrendered recently under a program that lets people give up an unwanted infant anonymously. There are dozens of baby boxes scattered across the U.S., but the practice is controversial.

Katie-Jo Page sits in a room she has prepared for Mykyta, a Ukrainian boy her family was in the process of adopting, in Snohomish, Wash., on Oct 2.

World News

These families were adopting Ukrainian orphans. Now they have to wait out Russia's war

10:15am October 15, 2022

by Ashley Westerman

Ukraine was the leading country Americans adopted from, but it halted adoptions this year after Russia's invasion. Now many families and children are in limbo.

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News
Youth

Children’s Home Society of North Carolina receives $8 million donation

4:07pm June 27, 2022

by Keri Brown

Paul Petersen, a lawyer and former Arizona public official, was sentenced to six years in federal prison for his role in orchestrating an illegal adoption scheme involving pregnant women from the Marshall Islands.

Federal Judge Sentences Ex-Arizona Official For 'Baby-Selling Enterprise'

5:05pm December 02, 2020

by Brakkton Booker

Paul Petersen was sentenced for his role in an international smuggling scheme trafficking pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to the U.S. for the purpose of having their babies adopted.

Recently adopted Chadian twins Claira (left) and Ariella play peekaboo to pass the time in Yaoundé, Cameroon, with their new parents, David and Michaela Parker, as they await their adoption visas. The 23-month-old girls cannot currently travel to America

'We'd Have To Abandon Our Daughters': Pandemic Delays International Adoptions

1:51pm April 14, 2020

by Ashley Westerman

Americans overseas trying to complete international adoptions have urged the government to expedite their children's visas so they can return as a family.

South Korea was once the largest source of children for international adoptions. The U.S. became their main destination. Some Korean-born adoptees feel distant from both the country of their birth and the country where they were raised, but in recent year

World News

'Feeling Like We Belong': U.S. Adoptees Return To South Korea To Trace Their Roots

5:50pm December 27, 2019

by Anthony Kuhn

South Korea was once the largest source of children for international adoptions. Now some adoptees are building ties with birth family members. Critics say South Korean adoption laws need improvement.

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Janie Bush (left) and daughter Tracey Bush at their StoryCorps interview in Dallas on Dec. 8, 2014.

National

Mother-Daughter Duo Reunited Against The Odds: 'I Believed That You Were Dead'

5:02am November 08, 2019

At age 19, Janie Bush gave birth to a daughter with a life-threatening condition and gave her up for adoption. After 12 years, Janie reconnected with Tracey Bush, who has since made a full recovery.

Maricopa County, Ariz., Assessor Paul Petersen is accused of smuggling pregnant women from the Marshall Islands and paying them to give birth in the United States. In Arizona, Petersen has been indicted on theft, fraud and forgery charges for allegedly cl

National

Arizona Official Arrested In Alleged 'Baby Mill' Adoption Fraud Scheme

6:18pm October 09, 2019

by Bobby Allyn

Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen has been arrested for allegedly transporting dozens of women from the Marshall Islands to give birth for adoptions. Authorities accuse him of human smuggling.

Empty baby beds stand in the maternity ward of a hospital (a spokesperson for the hospital asked that the hospital not be named). Six days after Farai Chideya took her adopted newborn child home from a hospital, she was forced to give him back to his birt

Health & Safety

'I Was Utterly Gutted': Farai Chideya Endures 3 Failed Adoptions

1:33pm July 14, 2019

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

The journalist, author and former NPR host speaks out about her painful quest for motherhood: "There's a lot of emotional blood on the floor."