Debated in Parliament on 12 Nov 2012.
Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong asked the Acting Minister for Social and Family Development from 2001 to 2011 (a) what is the trend of child adoption in Singapore; (b) what is the number of child adoptions for each year; (c) how many of these children are from foreign countries and which are the top three countries that they come from; and (d) what is the general profile of Singaporean couples who apply for child adoption, in terms of their age, income level, race and family background.
Page: 1165
The number of child adoptions saw a general downtrend from 703 in 2001 to 556 in 2005, before stabilising at about 400 over the past six years. In 2011, there were 418 adoptions.
Just over half of the adoption cases involve foreign children. The majority of the children come from neighbouring Southeast Asian countries.
Page: 1166
The majority of Singaporean adopters are Chinese and between 35 and 50 years old. Their median household monthly income is between $6,000 and $7,000. About nine in 10 applied for child adoption jointly with their spouse.
Page: 1166
PAPERCUTS