International adoptions by U.S. families drop for the 13th year straight

Foreign adoptions by U.S. parents dropped 12 percent in 2017, per State Department statistics released Friday.

American families only adopted 4,719 children from other countries last year, down from 5,372 in 2016. And it's only the latest fall in a chronic decline; international adoptions peaked at 22,884 in 2004 and they've fallen dramatically ever since, per The Associated Press.

Nearly 40 percent of adopted children came from China in 2017, which is consistently the No. 1 home country for foreign-adopted children.

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Russia usually took the No. 3 spot until the U.S. banned Russian adoptions in 2014. Adoptions from several other countries have also seen suspensions in the past few years, AP notes.

The decline in foreign adoptions is a worldwide trend, though AP notes that the U.S. still accounts for half of that shrinking number. Read more here.