Adopting Later in Life
Question
My husband and I are in our upper 50s. We have been happily married for over 30 years. We tried but couldn’t have children when we were young and couldn’t adopt either because we couldn’t afford to. We have always felt and still feel an emptiness because we never had any children. This emptiness has grown as more time has passed and many of our relatives are gone.
Now we are financially in a better position and we would very much love to adopt some children, but we cannot ignore the fact that we are older. We are for the most part in good health. We have asked a lawyer, and legally we can adopt if an agency is willing to approve us. What is your advice as a rabbi when it comes to middle-aged people adopting children?