The question is asking us to find the statement that strengthen's the arguement.
Conclusion: There are far fewer children available for adoption than there are people who want to adopt.
Premise: Two million people are currently waiting to adopt, but in 1982 only some 50,000 adoptions.
What assumption can strengthen the conclusion & bridge the gap between the premise & conclusion?
A. This statment is favorable, but does not strengthen enough because the increase in number of couples does not in anyway comment on the whether there was a proportionate increase in children for adoptions & so this option does not bridge the gap.
B. Number of adoptions this year vs previous year does not help. This choice is ruled out.
C. Number of adoptions in a year is equal to the number of number of children available. What this tells us is that there are enough couples available to adopt all the children available. This statement is a valid assumption that strengthens the arguement.
D. Long process of interviews & investagtion does not help us arrive at the conclusion in the arguement. So, this statement can be discarded.
Hope this helps.
