Thanks ((((Sidestepper))))! I've heard people say flat out they don't want an older child because it can come with baggage, and they don't want to have to deal with it, so they will wait forever for an infant, so they can try to minimize risk and "mold the child" to their liking.

Also, they think single pregnant teenagers are the perfect target market because they are least likely to have a "past" other than having sex out of wedlock and being stupid enough to get pregnant. (let's face it, most of them DO NOT use birth control) And then find themselves in a predicament.

Then comes the "screening" the bio parents background (any mental illness in the family, health issues, etc.) If things are all clear, they are happy to adopt the infant. But I bet these adoptive parents wouldn't take a kid that came from a background that had any type of serious illness running in the family. Another headache to worry about.

Unfortunately, it appears (bottom line) since they cannot have bio kids, what these people really want are mirror images of themselves (or close to it as possible) and forget the nature/nurture value in the equation.

Even if they had their own bio kids, the adoptive parents (and many bio parents) they don't even remotely think of the child as an individual being that has a brain of it's own...it's easier then with an adoptive kid to write it off as they are defective and "sick" if there are any problems. Rather than taking responsiblity as parents and seeing it as a team matter.

((((Rose))))