ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with an estimate of the financial value of adoption for the child, parent, agency, and society. The rate of adoption disruptions has apparently risen since the advent of permanency planning reforms. Although longitudinal evidence of adoption outcomes is very scarce, measurable developmental outcomes seem to be more favorable in adoption than in long-term foster care. The adoption of older children under permanency planning appears to be a highly favorable form of placement. The positive development outcomes of adoption and children's satisfaction with it seem, on the whole, consistent with current impressions and policies. Discussion of the value of children must address the limits of that valuation, for if it was unlimited then adoption would be far more common and disruption a one-in-a-thousand occurrence. Clearly the economic value of a child or of an adoption does explain only a small fraction of the child's or the adoption's overall value.
