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Originally Posted by DanaC
There is a cultural value placed on adopting a newborn baby as opposed to a child. That may well be exacerbated if there is more overt encouragement of the kind you recommend.
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It's not just a cultural value. I know three families that adopted older kids (one each at ages 2, 3, and 4,) and all three of the kids had major emotional problems to work out with their new families, either immediately or down the road. I'm not sure if the terminology is the same over there, but here they call it "Reactive Attachment Disorder." A newborn has a chance to truly bond with the new mother, while an older child has had an entirely different set of imprinting experiences, and usually negative. I'm certainly not saying those children don't deserve to be adopted, just that it's a real concern for an adoptive family to consider, whether they are up for taking on what will almost certainly end up being a special needs child in an emotional/psychological sense.