Age Limits to Adoption

[Allie74]

  My husband and I have one biological daughter, who's still a baby. We would like to add to our family through adoption. However I am in my late 30s, and I know adoption can take awhile, so by the time things are complete we could very well be into our 40s. Are there any chance of us adopting seeing how we are older? We would prefer to adopt a Caucasian baby of no older than 1 year.

[marsupial-mom]

Well, it just depends... If you get started now and don't procrastinate and get everything done as quickly as possible and then you're lucky to make a match then the age issue won't matter at all. However, if you wait a while to get started and/or have trouble getting the paperwork, etc. and/or for whatever reason you're not matched quickly, by then you might be too old for some agencies. But you'll never know until you start the process. You're not "too old" yet!

To give you an idea of timing, here is a survey by Adoptive Families magazine:

http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=2351

[heatherdeg]

They really just want to ensure that you're physically up to the challenges of parenting while the adoptive child is in need.  So really, you should be okay if you're planning to do this sooner rather than later... kwim?