ABSTRACT
Groze and Rosenthal define single-parent adoptions as adoptions by unmarried persons. This definition does not include cases in which a divorce or death of a spouse results in a single-parent adoption. Similar to the Groze and Rosenthal sample, Branham, Shireman and Johnson, and Feigelman and Silverman found that most single adoptive parents adopt children who are the same gender as themselves. Research studies that have compared characteristics of single-parent adopters and married couple adopters have reported differences between the two groups in gender, ethnicity, age of child adopted, educational level of parents, and family income. All of the children placed in the intact single-parent homes were members of ethnic minority groups. Two of the children were African American males placed with African American single mothers. A Puerto Rican male was placed with an African American/White adoptive mother. Transitions into the home and matching seemed to be major issues in these disrupted adoptions.
