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Saturday, Nov. 20, is National Adoption Day. What began as a weeklong observance in Massachusetts in 1976 grew into National Adoption Month (November) in 1990. The aim is to focus attention on children needing adoption. Some recent statistics: About 1.6 million adopted children (that is, under 18) live in the United States. That's 2.5 percent of all children living in households. Alaska has the highest proportion of adopted children, with 3.9 percent. Thirteen percent of adopted children are foreign-born. Of these, almost a quarter (48,000) are from Korea, the largest single source of foreign adoptions. Eighty-two percent of all European-born adopted children under 6 are from Russia or Romania.

Source: United States Census Bureau.