The Internet is too big to ignore. Billions of people are active Facebook users. Inevitably, the internet and social media are having huge impacts on adoption relationships. Facebook is changing the adoption search and the adoption landscape as a whole. See how the evolving internet is affecting birth parents, adoptive families, and adopted children by visiting: http://adoptionswithlove.org/uncategorized/social-media-and-adoption-infographic

1. Social media is changing the adoption landscape as we know it.
Here is how birth parents, adoptive families, and adoptees are
using the Internet and Social today – for better and for worse.
Over 3.5 billion
people have
internet access
Finding Biological Family on Facebook:
How the Internet & Social Media are
Used Among the Adoption Triad
92% of teens (ages 13 to 17) go online daily
56% of teens go online several times a day
THE INTERNET IS TOO BIG TO IGNORE
SOCIAL MEDIA IS NO EXCEPTION
Facebook is the
most popular social
network worldwide
There are currently 1.79 billion
monthly active Facebook users
1.18 billion of these users
log onto Facebook daily
WHO IS USING SOCIAL MEDIA?
The most common
age demographic on
Facebook is age
25 to 34
However, anyone aged 13 or older is permitted to make a Facebook account
making up 30% of
all registered
Facebook users
71% of American teens are
active Facebook users
MOST
COMMON
AGE
WHY ARE THEY USING FACEBOOK?
Remember Me?
Hi, from Mom!
How are you?
About two-thirds (67%)
of social media users
report that staying
in touch with
current friends
and family is a
major reason they
use social media
sites like Facebook
About 50%
say they use
these sites to
reconnect with
old friends
How do adopted children use the Internet?
A Google search of “find birth
parents” is entered about
1,600 times per month
Nearly 3 out of 4 adoptees
use the Internet or social
to search for birth families
...locating birth family members
...establishing contact
About 63%
find success...
38%
24%
Adoptees may also use the internet to:
88%
Locate information about topics
related to the adopted person
76%
Find information about obtaining
their original birth certificate
75%
Get online support to/from other
adopted people
72%
Connect with other adopted
people
70%Adoption advocacy purposes
66%
Educate themselves on
adoption issues
59%
Blog or voice their adoption
experience on the web
53%
Look for online advice and support
from adoption professionals
How do expectant/birth parents use the Internet?
The phrase “give baby up for
adoption” is searched nearly
600 times per month
When considering adoption
as a positive option,
about 55% of expectant/birth
parents use the Internet to
learn about adoption
Approximately
one-third of birth
parents have
searched for their
child online
54% of birth mothers
use social media
to stay up to date
on their child
HOW DO ADOPTIVE PARENTS
USE THE INTERNET?
“Adopt a baby” is searched on Google over
12,000 times per month
SEARCH
“find birth parents”
75%
of prospective
adoptive families
use the Internet to
explore adoption
Only 37%
of adoptive parents search
for their children’s birth
family members on the
Internet
According to a 2013 study,
SOCIAL MEDIA & OPEN ADOPTION
About 95%
of infant adoptions
have either open or
semi-open plans for
ongoing contact
Open adoption comes in all forms. It can involve a birth mother choosing an
adoptive family for her baby. It can mean that the two families keep in touch.
About 90%
of infant adoptions begin
with birth mothers
selecting and meeting an
adoptive family
Adopted children
94%
84%
Adoptive mothers
85%Adoptive fathers
THOSE WHO EXPRESS HIGH LEVELS OF SATISFACTION
WITH THEIR OPEN ADOPTION ARRANGEMENTS:
TODAY, SOCIAL MEDIA PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN ONGOING, OPEN
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE ADOPTION TRIAD.
61%
of adopted people use the Internet or
social media to maintain a connection with
their birth family
BIRTH PARENTS:
ADOPTEES:
42%
use it to maintain a connection with their children
After choosing to make an adoption plan,
almost half (47%) of birth parents use the
Internet to keep in touch with the
adoptive family
32%
of adoptive parents use the Internet or
social for online contact with their child’s
birth family
ADOPTIVE PARENTS:
THE MOST COMMON USES OF THE INTERNET
BY ADOPTIVE PARENTS IN AN OPEN PLAN ARE:
Sharing pictures and updates
41%
84%
Arranging visits
22%Communicating health information
17%Answering child’s questions
It is important to remember that the Internet and social media also pose potential
risks to the adoption triad. Because contact between families can take place more
quickly online, many adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive families do not have
the opportunity for self-reflection, conversation, or counseling beforehand.
ONLINE CONTACT IS TYPICALLY UNPLANNED.
63%
of adoption professionals
have heard from adoptive
families whose children
have had unexpected or
unmonitored contact with
birth relatives
About 11%
of birth parents have been
contacted by their children
or the adoptive family
when it was not planned
or expected
Establishing Rules & Expectations
for Ongoing Contact
If you are in an open or semi-open adoption arrangement, it is important to
establish rules for ongoing contact. These will help ensure that boundaries are
maintained and that everyone’s wishes are respected.
Establishing expectations in an open
adoption agreement can prevent
unplanned or unwanted contact. In a
survey of adopted persons who had
online contact with their birth families,
73%
of had not discussed rules or
expectations prior to online contact
51%
of their adoptive families had not
established rules about such
contact with the birth family
RULES
Counseling, guidance, and reflection are crucial prerequisites to the Search &
Reunion process. If you are considering an online search for your birth parents or
adopted child, we encourage you to give us a call. Searching online should not be
done without the help of a trained adoption professional. Adoptions With Love can
help you navigate any contact or searching that occurs online.
For more information about Adoptions With Love, please call us toll-free, 24/7 at
1-8OO-722-7731. You can also confidentially text us at 1-617-777-OO72.
Sources:
http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/
https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://pewrsr.ch/1E6RQLr&text=92% of American teens go online daily%2C including 24% who go online %27almost constantly.%27
https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
https://zephoria.com/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/
https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://pewrsr.ch/1E6RQLr&text=71% of American teens use Facebook.
http://www.pewresearch.org/daily-number/using-social-media-to-keep-in-touch/
http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/old/publications/2013_12_UntanglingtheWeb2.pdf
http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/old/publications/2012_12_UntanglingtheWeb.pdf
https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/f_openadoptbulletin.pdf