Adoption Photolistings At A Glance

The practice of adoption photolistings began with representative agencies. Adoption phololistings refers to the general practice of posting descriptions and pictures of children awaiting adoption. An accepted practice over the past few decades, adoption photolistings were confined to adoption services centers, never witnessing full public disclosure.

Following the advent of the Internet, these descriptions and pictures were published, opening their exposure to the wider public. The advantages in having a larger percentage of people view these foster-children remain clear, regardless of public debate.

Although advocates stand by adoption photolistings, some note the large potential for abuse. The children appearing in adoption photolistings maintain no inherent right over their publication, and lacking a central parentage, require decision by the State.

Even though the larger decisions made on behalf of foster care children by the State require no further explanation, the overall posting of their information without personal consideration appears negligent when viewed on a grand scale.


The Federal Government operates an adoption photolistings website at the domain www.adoptuskids.org. Certain exceptions exist in the wide-scale publication of adoption photolistings, or at the very least, certain considerations on a case-specific basis require a second look. Many children in foster care suffer from a wide-array of special needs.

Beyond legal and privacy issues regarding the widespread publication of adoption photolistings, the adoption of foster children has steadily increased with Internet usage.

Certain cases require special handling by adoption agencies, but websites like adoptuskids.org stand to gain more for the children than they can potentially lose by the greater exposure. Generally, adoption photolistings offer advantages to the foster care system if handled and supervised in a proper fashion.