Data Quality
Census 2000 sample data provide the most comprehensive national data on adopted children available since 1975,
and include a larger sample of stepchildren than other surveys as well. The ongoing Current Population Survey does not allow identification of the types of relationship between parents and children, and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) has a sample of about 37,000 households. The National Survey of Family Growth interviews women about the attitudes they hold, plans they have made, and actions they have taken regarding adoption, but it does not provide information about adoptive families or adopted children. The National Health Interview Survey, which identifies the type of relationship between selected children and their parents, had a sample of about 39,000 households (in 2001).
The estimate of the number of adopted children under 18 years old using Census 2000 sample data is consistent with the estimate from 1996 data from the SIPP. The SIPP survey instrument collects information about each child under 18 years, regardless of whether they are a child of the householder. In the SIPP, for each child who has a parent present in the household, the respondent is asked to identify whether the parent is the biological, step, foster, or adoptive parent of the child. The number of adopted children under 18 estimated by SIPP 1996 was 1,484,000,
of which 98 percent were the children of the householder. Using the SIPP data as a guide, the Census 2000 estimate accounts for nearly all adopted children under 18. Long-form data from Census 2000 show 1,5686,000 people under 18 years old who were designated as the adopted child of the householder.
The total number of adopted sons and daughters of the householder of nay age was 2,059,000.
Regarding estimates of stepchildren, 1996 SIPP data showed 4.9 million stepchildren
under 18 were living with at least one stepparent, while Census 2000 long-form data showed 3.2 million children under 18 were the stepchild of the householder, Census 2000 data, then, may capture about two thirds of those children under 18 years old who lived with at least one stepparent. We would expect the Census 2000 estimate to be lower than that of the SIPP, since SIPP data indicate the presence and type of both of the child's parents, while Census 2000 identifies only the type of relationship of the child to the householder. Thus, when the child's stepparent is not the householder, we are unable to count this child as a stepchild. Some children who are listed in this report as biological children of the householder may also be the stepchildren of the spouse of the householder in his or her second marriage. Other children may have a stepparent who did not reside in the household in which the child was counted in Census 2000. Nationally representative surveys do not generally collect information about the relationships between household members and nonresident parents.
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Credits: CENSR-6
by Rose M. Kreider
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