As of Sept. 30, 2025, 134 Utah youth ages 11 to 23 had a permanency plan of adoption, yet fewer than 61 adoptions occurred for this same age group. This indicates a real need for more adoptive homes for teens and young adults.
Unfortunately, at the same time as we feel this disproportionality on a state and national level, the families who choose to provide these permanent homes are facing predatory practices.
In April 2026, an Associated Press investigation, led by Claire Galofaro and Sally Ho, showed that residential treatment centers, wilderness programs and boarding schools for troubled teens, including Uinta Academy in Utah, are targeting and luring in adoptive families with false promises to address behavioral health issues.
The article reported that adoptees account for an estimated 25-40% of those in residential treatment and that this perpetuates the “shadow orphanage” reality of youth continuing to lead daily lives outside of permanent families.
This investigation exposes the latest predatory attack on the adoption community by for-profit entities, and we should rightfully be investigating, condemning and pursuing lawsuits against institutions that prey on families at a most vulnerable time.
Yes, these children may display behavior or attachment challenges resulting from trauma, but post-adoption services, like counseling, mental health resources, parent training and support groups, are proven to promote bonding and healing within adoptive families. Although some adoptees may need specialized treatment, many youth can also successfully integrate into new loving homes.
This situation feeds the myth that adoptees are inherently “troubled” and that the adoption of older youth will be forever unstable.
Truthfully, adoption dissolutions are rare and research shows that adoption can lead to high levels of life satisfaction and eventual satisfaction with the adoption experience.
Instead of luring families with for-profit “solutions” like residential treatment centers costing up to $20,000 per month, we need to redirect funding and resources to help adoptive parents properly navigate the trauma of adolescent and young adult adoptees and engage in open dialogue on family integration.
We see a similar challenge within the foster care system itself, where the government and nonprofit organizations are trying to push extended foster care versus adoption and both young adult adoptees and their adoptive parents frequently lack support.
A December 2025 report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Evidence for Extended Foster Care, highlights that 19-year-olds in extended care are 90% more likely to be enrolled in higher education, 65% less likely to become young parents and 64% less likely to face incarceration compared to peers who exited to permanency at 17 or 18.
While extended foster care offers money for housing and higher education, it inherently lacks lifelong familial commitment; therefore, social workers need to be simultaneously supporting permanency options like adoption and guardianship. The study reports, “every young person deserves family. Yet too often, older youth in foster care face a false dichotomy: pursue legal permanency and lose eligibility for the resources that help young people transition to adulthood or remain in foster care past age 18 to access … services and support.”
To understand the tradeoffs of extended foster care versus adoption or guardianship, it would be beneficial to follow the young adults in the Casey study 10 to 20 years into adulthood to understand the role played by family and other supportive adults. The prefrontal cortex, which governs executive function and risk assessment, does not fully develop until the mid-twenties, and firsthand testimonials place tremendous value on having a number to call in times of crisis or a place to return to for the holidays.
We need to continue encouraging the adoption of teenagers who would otherwise end up in institutionalized or unstable foster care, but we need to penalize predatory actors in the space, promote quality adoptive matches (ideally with family or kin), and make sure parents are given comprehensive training and support to promote full family flourishing.