World News: Your weekend must reads 🗞

Saturday, May 21

Many people think of adoption as a fairy tale — the happily ever after in which yearning parents build a family and a child receives a forever home.

Too often, that simply isn't the case.

Good morning, friends of The Short List. I'm John, and this week's top must read is "Broken Adoptions," a groundbreaking investigation from USA TODAY reporters Marisa Kwiatkowski and Aleszu Bajak.

🔵 On average, 12 adoptions a day fail in the United States. While the majority of adoptions in the U.S. remain intact, USA TODAY found that tens of thousands of children suffer the collapse of two families: their birth family and their adoptive family. Those failures occur across the spectrum of adoption, affecting children adopted internationally, from foster care, through private agencies and by relatives.

The first-of-its-kind USA TODAY analysis of federal and state data found breakdowns at every point in the adoption process, including flawed home studies and a lack of mental health services.

More than 66,000 adoptees ended up in the foster care system between 2008-2020, yet the federal government has done little to address the issue.

🔵 To make matters worse, many states fail to keep accurate data. Children adopted from foster care often get new IDs, making it nearly impossible to detect adoptions that fall apart — or understand what might help.

🔵 You can explore our entire investigation into adoption failures at brokenadoptions.usatoday.com.

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