A growing number of employers offer benefits
to adoptive parents. In 1990, a survey by
Hewitt Associates found that only 12 percent of
employers surveyed offered some kind of adoption
benefits; by 2004, a Hewitt survey of 936 major
U.S. employers showed that the percentage had
grown to 39 percent, with an average maximum
reimbursement of $3,879 for adoption expenses.

Prospective adoptive parents may be concerned about the costs of adopting a child and their ability to meet those costs. Becoming a parent is rarely free of expenses—pregnancy and childbirth can be expensive and even more so without adequate insurance—and adoptive parents may be faced with initial costs that seem challenging. However, with planning and knowledge about the different types of adoptions and available resources, they can develop a budget to include most of the foreseeable expenses. This factsheet explains these expenses so that prospective adoptive parents can make informed decisions throughout the adoption process.

Are you pregnant and thinking about placing your baby for adoption? Being well-informed may help you feel better about whatever decision you make—whether it is to place your child for adoption or to parent your child yourself. This factsheet provides information about adoption, presents questions to consider, and points to resources that may help you in exploring your options. Others who are affected by adoption decisions, such as expectant fathers and other relatives, also may find this factsheet useful for answering their questions.

About 7.8 million children live in grandfamilies.  Some grandfamilies are multigenerational households where families pool resources and grandparents provide care so parents can work.  In others, grandparents or other relatives have stepped in to keep children out of foster care when parents are unable to care for them. Sometimes grandparents have stepped in and a parent may still be present and living in the household, but not providing for most of the basic needs of a child, such as a teen parent. In other instances, grandparents receive a call in the middle of the night from child protective services and become full-time, sole caregivers to their grandchildren in a matter of hours. While grandparents are more often the relative that steps in, these scenarios also play out with aunts, uncles, older
siblings, and even close family friends.

This booklet covers expenses common to most adoptions, expenses unique to the various types of adoption, financial assistance for adoption and post-adoption expenses, and tax breaks available to
adoptive parents.

Data can be an incredibly powerful tool for child welfare advocates, policymakers, and program administrators in their work to improve the lives of vulnerable children and families. From identifying target population characteristics and needs, to documenting program or service outcomes, to assessing a policy’s effect, using data to inform efforts to help children and families thrive is critical. Data can play an invaluable role in helping to highlight the need for a program, service, or policy, or to communicate about how a particular population is faring. They provide objective evidence to “make the case.”

The New Jersey Council for Young Children was established in January 2010 to ensure
collaboration and coordination among early childhood programs in the State of New Jersey.
The Birth-to-Eight Early Learning and Development Standards Committee of the Council
has responsibility for the development of a coherent set of early learning and development
and program standards that address all areas of development for ages birth through eight
that will lead to positive outcomes for infants, young children and their families.