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Why do so many Americans adopt foreign babies?

More reasons than I can cover here, and the answers vary by country. The main reason is lack of young children available for adoption here. Many of the children available for adoption here languished (by reasons of law or circumstance) in the foster care system for a several years. Though many foster parents do adopt placed children. the reasons for wanting young children vary from the preference of the adoptive mother, to emotional damage that may have come to the children available (e.g. Attachment Disorder). Some adopting parents have fear that the adoption may not be truly finalized, and that they will ultimately be hounded by a birth mother (this is rare when adoptions are done properly). Depending on the state, an international adoption may move more quickly, and certainly more reliably. Time and money is needed in most adoptions (though not as much in the foster to adopt). If a parent would like a child of a certain look, for whatever reason, perhaps to blend in better with other children, countries like Russia become more popular. For those with tight funds, an African or Haitian adoption may be a relative financial bargain. Though these places are prone to corruption and debilitating natural disasters that can send you back to square one.

In recent years, a down economy combined with the onerous Hague Convention plus new U.S. regulations have caused a serious downturn in international adoptions.

There is much, much more to this. I can say that a loving adoption of any child, foreign and domestic, is well-worth doing for many, many reasons.