All About Older Parent Adoption

Some people feel that older people should not be allowed to adopt. They are concerned that older adoptive parents won't have the energy or patience to be good parents or that they will kick the bucket before the adopted child reaches the age of maturity. But these days, people are waiting until their careers are established before becoming parents and older parent adoptions have become quite common.

Sometimes an older couple decides to adopt a child because their biological children have all grown up and left the nest. Or perhaps an older couple is in a second marriage after divorce or death and wants to have the full experience of parenting with each other. In other cases, the couple has achieved all its career goals and is now ready to concentrate on being parents.

International Adoption

Older parents have found that international adoption may be preferable since many foreign countries prefer older adoptive parents. Such adoptions may be quicker than domestic adoptions, too. This is the first line solution for many older adoptive parents.

Careful consideration should be given to the age of the adoptive child. Some parents prefer newborns or young toddlers because they wish to have the experience of caring for a baby. But caring for babies is taxing and an older couple must consider whether they have the stamina to carry a baby around and lose sleep at night. Also, if you adopt a baby, you have to consider that dealing with adolescence when you are in your senior years will be a great challenge. It is this last consideration that is the decision-breaker for many older adoptive parents in choosing to adopt a child who is past his babyhood.

Preexisting Responsibilities

Another important consideration is to review how you will balance caring for your adopted child at the same time you are caring for your own, elderly parents. Also, it has been known for older biological children to move back home after a divorce or due to sudden unemployment. Dealing with the stress of these situations may be difficult to handle in tandem with caring for your brand new adopted child. It also behooves prospective parents to consider how they will manage the financial and logistic aspects of adoptive parenthood in conjunction with any preexisting responsibilities.

Examine your motives in wishing to adopt a baby. Maybe you've thought about the soft sweetness of a baby without having considered what it really means to parent, and the challenges this entails. In order to assess your readiness for parenting, it's a good idea to volunteer in a position where you are responsible for children. In that way, you can get a good idea of whether you are truly ready to handle children with all the difficulties that come with the daunting job of parenting.