The National Survey of Adoptive Parents: An Introduction to the Special Issue of Adoption Quarterly

This article describes the background, design, and operation of the first-ever large-scale nationally representative population survey regarding adopted children across adoption types. The National Survey of Adoptive Parents ( NSAP) was administered to 2,089 adoptive parents between April 2007 and July 2008, including parents of 545 children adopted internationally, 763 children adopted from the U.S. foster care system, and 781 children adopted from private domestic sources. The survey includes information on the characteristics, well-being, and service utilization of adopted children and their families. These data can be used by researchers to explore a broad range of topics related to adoption.