Home > adoption and foster care, children and families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services > The National Survey of Adoptive Parents: Benchmark Estimates of School Performance and Family Relationship Quality for Adopted Children

The National Survey of Adoptive Parents: Benchmark Estimates of School Performance and Family Relationship Quality for Adopted Children

August 13, 2011

The National Survey of Adoptive Parents: Benchmark Estimates of School Performance and Family Relationship Quality for Adopted Children
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The National Survey of Adoptive Parents (NSAP) was the first large-scale population survey of adopted children that was nationally representative of all adopted children in the United States, including children of all adoption types: children adopted internationally, children adopted from the foster care system, and children adopted through private domestic avenues. This new resource represents a wealth of data about the characteristics, well-being, and adoption-related experiences (including need and use of post-adoption services and supports) of adopted children and their families. However, there is potential for misinterpretation of some indicators if there are no comparable benchmark estimates for the general population of children. For example, if estimates from NSAP show that 75% of adopted children have a desired outcome and 25% experience a negative outcome, that means something different if the comparable rates for all children are 90% and 10%, than if the comparable rates are 70% and 30%.

In recognition of this potential issue, some NSAP questions were asked of a random sample representing all children, to allow for comparisons on selected indicators of school performance and family relationship quality. This brief report presents the comparison of adopted children and all children on these measures. Because the population of adopted children is not homogenous and varies considerably on many dimensions by adoption type (Vandivere et al., 2009), estimates of school performance and relationship quality for adopted children by adoption type are also presented. Finally, adjusted estimates that control for demographic and socioeconomic differences among adoption types are examined to evaluate whether differences in school performance and relationship quality by adoption type are explained by demographic and socioeconomic differences between adoption types.

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Categories: adoption and foster care, children and families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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