[Linny]

After having adopted many times.....infants and older, I would strongly suggest you consider this:
USUALLY (caps here only for emphasis), and I stress 'usually' the younger the child, the less amount of problems you will incur with the child.
Yes, there are always exceptions. But, having adopted three children (one sib set, one single) who were older, this seems to be rather true. The sib set was 3 and 6yrs. The single, 7yrs.
I do believe there is a benefit to adopting sibs who have always been placed together. I am biased, due to the situations we have encountered with the 'system' and older adoption; but it seems that when sibs are able to be placed together, they still have some sort of continuity in their lives.....despite abuse.
One caseworker told me that of the three types of abuse: sexual, physical and neglect, by far the worst one to deal with was the 'neglect'. I couldn't understand that at the time; however, after having a RAD child (with other dx) live with us and now living in a residential home, I fully agree with her.
Sibs able to stay together, somehow seem to be able to still bond and that helps with parental bonding when they are adopted, I think.
My advice would be to greatly research children you are interested in. Do not trust one report or person entirely as to what you read and hear about a child....as there is usually more. That said, in adopting older children, I would suggest the 'easier' route would be to accept children from birth to three. IMO, after age three, much of what a child learns about behavior is very set. This is not to say behaviors can't be modified somewhat; but it can be quite challenging to do so.

Hope this helps.....

Sincerely,

Linny