[NancyAshe]

Adoption professionals aren't the only group faced with the question of "how old is too old?" Medical ethicists are also faced with the question when it comes to assisted reproduction. Earlier this year, a Romanian woman gave birth - using donated sperm and eggs - at age 66. Whether it's adoption or infertility services, is there an answer to the question "are you ever too old to become a mother?"

Some feel that an age limit should be set at a point where it's realistic that the parents will live to see the child become an adult; others say any life with loving parents is better than not having that opportunity, regardless of age; some set a specific upper age for a single person, and a combination of ages for a couple (i.e, a couple with combined ages of 130).

Adoption is quite different than assisted reproduction, where older persons may be considering a high-risk pregnancy. Children are adopted at all different ages, under different circumstances. I recall a few years ago the story of a woman in her 70s who was the only parent her foster son had ever known, and she did, indeed, adopt him. Grandparents frequently adopt their grandchildren - for continuity of the family environment, as well as for the legal rights to make future decisions for the child.

Comparing apples with apples, is there an age limit (a number - 40, 50, 60, etc.) at which assisted reproduction and adoption of newborns should not be options because of age? It's a question ethicists haven't been able to agree on... I suspect we won't be able to agree, either.