Work

Predictors of domestic infant adoption – what characterizes the family circumstances of parents and children prior to adoption?

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: While many studies have shown that adoptees develop more positively than peers placed in other types of care, less is known about whether these outcomes are influenced by initial differences in family circumstances. This study investigates whether family circumstances before childbirth predict infant domestic adoption compared to out-of-home care. Using Firth logistic regressions (penalized Maximum Likelihood logistic regressions) on Danish administrative data from the 1998-2004 birth cohorts, we examine how family circumstances are associated with adoption versus out-of-home care placement before age one ( n = 1,348). Our results show that initial differences in family circumstances such as parents’ age at childbirth, parents’ cohabitation status, parents’ education, parents’ crime history, mother’s employment, and mother’s mental health are associated with the probability of adoption before age one compared to out-of-home care placement before age one. These findings suggest potential selection bias in previous studies on adoption that have not taken pre-adoption differences into account, indicating a need for further investigation of this topic.

Source: Developmental Child Welfare

DOI: 10.1177/25161032251324853

Authors: Rikke Fuglsang Olsen, Morten Holm Enemark

Institution: VIVE - The Danish Center for Social Science Research

Language: English

Topic: Child Welfare and Adoption

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: Helsefonden