Adoption rate up again

A total 1,390 children were adopted in the Netherlands in 2001, nearly one hundred more than in 2000. Dutch courts granted 1,119 of the 1,133 applications for adoption. In addition, 271 children were adopted under the The Hague Adoption Treaty. Compared with 1995, the number of adoptions was nearly a third higher.

Number of adopted children

Most children from abroad

About 95 percent of ‘ordinary’ adoptions concern children from other countries. The remaining five percent of adopted children are Dutch.
Adoption by a step-parent accounted for 195 cases; 86 percent of these children are Dutch.

Adopted children by nationality, 2001

Many children from China

China has overtaken Colombia as the most important country of origin for adopted children. More than a quarter of adopted children come from China, and the number is increasing. Colombia is now in second place, accounting for 17 percent of adoptees.
True to tradition, most children from China are girls; only five percent are boys.

Marcelle van Zee