Adopting E-Magazine, June 2012
Adopting Announcements
Photolisting: Now is the perfect time to raise foster and adoption awareness in your community. If you have your own blog or website, perhaps you would like to add our Photo Listing Widget to help raise awareness of foster children nationwide.
Would you like to help more children from your agency get adopted faster? Click here for a form to add children to our photolisting. This service is FREE to all states and includes a team of technical support and customer service staff to maintain the Photolisting.
Don't see any children from your state? Please contact your local officials to let them know you would like to see children from your state.
Blogging: Have you thought about starting a blog to share your adoption journey with friends, family or others in the adoption community? We're always looking for volunteer or guest bloggers with an authoritative voice on adoption topics, such as international adoption, foster care, unplanned pregnancy, search and reunion etc. for AdoptionBlogs.com. This may be the perfect time to voice your adoption experiences and share with our community!
Practical Tips for Adopting after 40
Starting a family later in life is becoming more common in modern society. Instead of having children and growing a family in your twenties, you may decide to start in your forties instead. There are a variety of reasons you chose to wait to adopt until you are in your forties. It could be that you've battled with years of infertility treatments and you didn't get the results you had hoped for. Or maybe you wanted to wait until you were more financially and emotionally secure and stable before you took on the pressures of parenthood. Or maybe you finally felt it was the right time. Whatever your reason, adopting after forty can be difficult--worth it, but difficult. With that in mind, here are some practice tips for adopting after forty.
If you are adopting domestically, there are no laws that forbid older parents from adopting. However, one issue you may run into is that some birthparents may be wary to place his/her child with an older couple. Many times this simply has to do with the vision they have in their heads, what they've pictured the adoptive parents to look like. For them, it's a comfort issue. But you'll also find that some prefer to place with older couples because this can mean stability, wisdom, and increased patience and understanding.
On the other hand, if you want to adopt internationally, you'll have to do ample research. Some international countries have age limits when it comes to adopting. As such, you may not be eligible to adopt from certain countries. One example is India. To adopt from India, you have to be between the ages of thirty and fifty. While this doesn't seem like a problem, there is another stipulation. The combined age of you and your spouse cannot be more than ninety years old. So, if you have an older spouse or partner, India may not be the right country from which to adopt.
However, this doesn't mean you can't adopt internationally. It just means that you have to choose one that works with your needs and your specifications. China, for instance, has an age requirement that adoptive parents must be between the ages of thirty and fifty. So, don't think international adoption isn't possible or plausible. It's about finding the right method.
One major setback you may experience is in your own mind or from comments from those around you. You may feel that you're too old to adopt, or maybe people tell you that, even close loved ones. But that's not true. If you want to start a family, now is the perfect time to begin. Don't let fears or criticism from others hold you back from starting your family. Put your fears aside and move forward, even if it's just one step at a time.
Once you've adopted, it's time to focus on parenting after forty. Although you may not have to go through the physical aspects of birthing a child, being a parent after forty is physically demanding. You may not have the energy you had in your teens and early twenties, and your child will undoubtedly have a lot of energy and exuberance for life. So, keeping up may prove difficult, as it does with most parents. Sometimes the best way to take care of your child is to take care of yourself. Get plenty of sleep, when you can, that is. Eat healthy foods that will give you energy and drink plenty of water. Make sure you're physically active, which shouldn't be a problem with an active child running or crawling around. Taking care of yourself physically is really the best way to keep up with your child.
Adopting after forty may not be an easy road to choose, but neither is parenthood. It may be difficult and stressful and sometimes heartbreaking, but it also comes with joys, happiness, and laughter. The positives outweigh the negatives. If you desire to be a parent, no matter your age, you should follow your dream. And for you, that dream may begin with adoption.
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Adopting Blogs from AdoptionBlogs.com
Across Africa
I am going jump all over the board in this post because there are things that have happened in various areas. First, the good news! If any of you have been waiting for Sierra Leone to re-open, the day has come. [more]
Ethiopian Adoption Remains the Same
I have done some research on the state of the adoption program in Ethiopia and have found that once again there has been no change. This is such a heartbreak to many of the people who desire to find their child from this country. Things are simply not moving along quickly. [more]
Adopting Community, News & Events
China Adoption - Agency Feedback on Lifeline Children's Services in AL
Breastfeeding the Adopted Child - If I already have an established milk supply do I need to do anything?
Adopting The Older Child - New to all this
Add your non-marketing adoption related event at no cost. Get started today by registering for an account.
The Adoption Photolisting
Adopting Tip of the Month
Before you begin working with an adoption agency, thoroughly research each one online. Ask for recommendations and read reviews. It's the best way to protect yourself and your family.
In Your Words
"Adoption has been a wonderful blessing in my life. My best friend...was adopted, which always gave me that positive picture. When I was 56, my husband's sister gave birth to a beautiful little girl during a rebel raid in Liberia. My children were grown and had children of their own, but with the death of his sister, it was the tradition for my husband to raise this child. Friends thought we were crazy, but Lilly has been a joy and blessing. We just celebrated her ninth birthday and I am so happy we were able to make her our daughter. Older parents can happily adopt and raise children." - Sally
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