[momtosami]

I was wanting to know of information out there on adopting toddler age or children under 3, has anyone adopted an older child that was not a baby. I would love to have info as this is an option for us as well.

Thank You

[jackiesbooks]

I adopted a 6 yr from Foster care. He was placed at 3.

[tallgibb]

We adopted a newborn, then a 20m old. There was a huge difference in the 2 adoptions. We were not prepared and probably had rose colored glasses on regarding toddler adoption. The book The weavers craft, toddler adoption is very good on the subject.
Unfortunatly everbody's experiences will be different, depending on the child and circumstances around the adoption.
Was your first child a newborn or older?
Best of luck and feel free to ask any questions. We are an open book.

[Linny]

In our case, two of our babies were older babies...but still under 12months when placed. All have done well, that's for sure.
As far as adopting an older child.......we adopted one that had just turned three when he came to us. (We'd had extensive visits prior to his placement.)
Even though he'd been removed from the bio home at only a few days old, and had only been in one foster home, he still had attachment issues. Truly, I blame much of that on the foster home he was in, which had SO many services, they seldom had much time to be the parents, KWIM?
Still, we'd not do it again; nor would we adopt a child over the age of---say----12months.
Of the eight adoptions we've had; all three of the older child adoptions failed (disrupted) in some way. We may be an exception; but raising 'older children' (even those as young as three) is completely different than having a newborn to raise. For some things, IMO, there is only a certain 'window' of opportunity to train and reach them, after that, it's so very difficult for the child---and the family.
Make sure you do your homework in researching this....talk to a lot of parents of 'older children/toddlers'...and do yourself a favor in attending more than one 'parents of older children adoption support group'.
It is a totally different world, IMO.

Sincerely,

Linny