I did a count of how many successful adoptive parents adopted boys & how many adopted girls, and was a bit surprised to find it was 2-1: 31 boys were placed (including a set of twins) and 15 girls were placed (not including an adorable toddler girl placed through CAS).

So here is my question: does our culture somehow view boys as better able to handle an adoptive placement? Do birth mothers (and I KNOW I am treading into murky waters here, as no two birth mothers are alike) want to somehow protect girls by parenting them, or protect boys by placing them? Is the (common, but not universal) lack of a male role model at play in decisions to place boys?

I know when North Americans talk about international adoption, we are quick to point out that, for example, birth monthers in countries such as Korea and Guatemala overwhelmingly place boys, whereas birth mothers in countries such as India and China overwhelmingly place girls. But I don't know to what extent we have examined this phenomenon in our own culture.

To be clear: I hope this conversation remains respectful towards birth parents. I feel that decisions to place one gender more frequently than another are reflective of how the society at large views gender, and should NOT be a moral condemnation of the birth parent.

Interesting topic. Not only does it have to do with the kids placed it also has to do with what people request.

Apparently over 60% of adoptive parents ask for girls! Not sure why, maybe because women are usually the ones pushing the adoption or adoption paperwork.

We adopted from Russia, there are 8 boys to every 2 girls in Russian orpahnages. Partly because more PAP ask for girls. But also because Russian families tend to keep girls rather than boys and also in Russia more PAP ask for girls.

In almost all countries (expect CHina) it is a longer wait to adopt a girl.

Chat soon.

I know many, many adoptive couples, and of all the ones I know, every single one adopted a boy first, except for Terry. lol I have no idea what their preferences were, but that is the way it worked out.

Most who have gone on to adopt the second time, adopted a girl. In these cases, I would say they probably requested a girl, but could be wrong there.

For us, in particular, we just wanted a child. It didn't matter what the gender was. We adopted a boy, then another boy, but requested a girl for our third adoption.

At the daycare where I work we always have a greater number of males than females. Last year out of the whole year our infant program that is licenced for 9 infants had only 1 girl enrolled for 10 of the 12 months. Then then it went to a 2(female) to 7(male) ratio.

This time around we are still completely open to either gender, but I would LOVE a girl, in order to have one of each. I think if our next child turns out to be a boy, that we'll consider adopting a third..(shh..don't tell dh!!) and specifically ask for a girl, or join a program where there are more girls (ie. China)

quote:

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Originally posted by shelley2003:
Aren't more boys born then girls?

Shell

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Yes, but only 52% of children born are boys, whereas over 67% of the placements mentioned in the CA adoptive parent profiles are boys. (A little over half versus a little over 2/3; definitely statistically significant).

There have even been studies done as to why adoptive families request girls more than boys!

Secretly (okay, not secretly, as I have told my husband and our worker), I hope to be placed with a girl, as we already have a boy, and I wonder if my family will feel "complete" without a girl. (Not that I won't thoroughly enjoy a boy, just the "completion" thing nags at me).

That said, my personal decision has been that I will do as pregnant parents do & harbour my secret hope, knowing that it could go either way. I would welcome a boy with wide open arms, provided he is a match in every other way. And it does haunt me a bit to know that there are twice as many girls requested and twice as many boys available.

Now I got pregnant, and had dd.

Now I am waiting for a placement, and have chosen to be gender neutral this time around (as in pregnancy), but when I adopt #3, I will be asking for a boy, even if number 2 is a boy...I definitly want my last one to be a son.

I hope more families will consider requesting boys...they really are wonderful!