Adoption Statistics -- Special Needs

As of March 31, 2009, there were 7,937 children and adolescents that have official declarations of abandonment and belong to the category SPECIAL NEEDS. This number is down from October's report of 8,211.

Special Needs in Colombia is defined as children with disabilities, children over 8 years of age, and sibling groups of 3 or more. On the report by ICBF, from which I obtained these statistics, it states: These children are available immediately and families requesting children in this category will receive PRIORITY and PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT.

Here is the breakdown of the 7,937 adoptable children in the Special Needs Category:

1,063 ---- children in good health younger than 7 that belong to large sibling groups

• down from 1,319 in October

543 ---- children younger than 7 with a physical or mental disability

• up from 504 in October

2,359 -- children between 8-17, some belong to sibling groups

• down from 2,843 in October

1,869 -- children between 8-17 with a physical or mental disability

• up from 1,774 in October

693 ---- children over 18 in a good physical state

• up from 554 in October

1,410 -- children over 18 with a physical or mental disability

• up from 1,217 in October

It would appear that some of the decreases in categories may be attributed to aging out of a lower age category and graduating to the next category. The statistics do not show how many kids from the Special Needs categories actually found adoptive homes.