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November 2009Vol. 10, No. 9National Survey of Adoptive Parents Releases First Data

The National Survey of Adoptive Parents (NSAP) is the first national large-scale survey of parents who have adopted children through private adoption, intercountry adoption, and adoption from foster care. Sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and the Administration for Children and Families and conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the telephone survey collected data in 2007-2008 from 2,089 parents.

Public use files for the data are now available, and studies from these files will eventually provide information about adoptive families in the United States, including:

  • Characteristics, health, and well-being of adopted children and their families
  • Adoptive parents' experiences in choosing and preparing for adoption
  • Parents' use of postadoption supports and services

Adoptive families can supply insights into the variables that help or hinder the success of adoptions. Their feedback on postadoption supports and resources will also inform adoption specialists about what services the families find most helpful. These data also provide information on parents' reasons for adoption, decisions about adoption type, openness, postadoption financial and nonfinancial service use, and other factors.

Detailed information about the survey's content, including survey instruments and procedures for accessing the data, is available on the CDC website:
www.cdc.gov/nchs/slaits/nsap.htm

Public use files for the data are available from the National Center for Health Statistics: www.cdc.gov/nchs/index.htm

A second, related survey, the National Survey of Adoptive Parents of Children With Special Health Care Needs, collected survey responses from approximately 1,000 parents who had adopted children with special needs. More information is available on the CDC website:
www.cdc.gov/nchs/slaits/nsapsn.htm