by Antonia Sage

Created on: November 29, 2008

If Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch can have children later in life, why not adoptive parents?

We live in an era that demands its own morality; traditional views of right and wrong neither appeal nor apply to degrees of social, political and ethical complexity we encounter. Advances in science and means have blurred traditional boundaries of family, gender and age. Want to change your gender? No problem. Want to have a child well after menopause? No problem. Want to marry someone thirty years younger? No problem.

Well, there is a problem. Choices have consequences.

Should adoption by those over age 50 be permitted? The consequences and risks of this choice are complex, because they also impact the adopted child. Because an orphaned child does not have a say in the decision of its adoption, because that decision alone can transform her life, a civilized society is obliged to examine the implications of this decision on her behalf.

It is true that an orphaned child will benefit from a home, even in the care of older parents. But we are not discussing absolutes here. Hopefully, the choice is not between leaving a child remain orphaned versus being adopted by older parents, but between being adopted by younger rather than older parents. In which case, the answer is that a child will benefit from being adopted by younger parents. Here is why:

NURTURING

The most important function of parenting is creating a nurturing environment for the child, which requires emotional readiness to put the interests of the child first. Although rewarding, raising a child is a highly stressful activity. Stress and aging are strongly interconnected. As we age, stress has a stronger impact on our physical and emotional wellbeing, compromising our immune and neurological systems, causing depression, a common response to stress among older adults.

FINANCIAL SUFFICIENCY

Older parents are likely to be nearing retirement. Options to create income decline with age, and providing for the needs of a growing child, for her education, interests and future may be present a greater challenge to older parents. Younger parents, on the other hand, have an advantage of time, and can work to overcome any financial disadvantage they may have, starting out. They are also likely to be financially independent when the children grow into adults, and in a position to help them out if need arises. Parents who adopt in their fifties will be in their seventies when their children reach adulthood - a time when financial

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>