When you choose to Adopt a Child in a rather Unconventional Way

Your friend has been going on out her plans to adopt a child for months; and now, the day seems to finally have arrived. She proudly shows you a darling tiny little engraved silver feeding cup that she's planning to give the daughter arriving that day. You’re kind of happy for her and you decide to show up that evening and you go shopping for a nice fluffy teddy bear for the little tot. When you arrive at your friend's house, the welcome is rather gracious; but you wonder about the funny look they give your teddy bear present. They take you to the living room to introduce you to their new daughter. Why, she must be 30 years old.

Perhaps your friend should have warned you that when she spoke about her plans to adopt a child, she planned to get on board America's hottest adoption trend - adult adoptions. Evidence that this happens to be a popular trend is anecdotal at best; adoption records are sealed in most states. But the trend clearly exists. So is this something crazy that people have thought of – like adopting virtual babies or something? Well, not exactly.

In many of these cases, it's just a very healthy and deeply meaningful thing going on. Foster parents who raise foster children can grow very attached to them; often, they find it heartbreaking when the children are moved to another home. When the child grows up though, these foster families reunite with their foster children in a ritual of adoption. In other cases, children who for some reason end up losing touch with their biological families, miss being part of a family so much that they become friendly with childless couples they come to know of and ask to be adopted. A family isn't just something you crave when you are a child. While people may joke about having to meet their crazy families over Christmas or Thanksgiving, people who don't have families can truly crave such a connection their whole lives.

We live in a time when the definition of family appears to be in for some serious change. Same-sex couples who can't legally marry in their state, sometimes use adult adoption to make sure that when one partner dies, they can make sure their property goes to the other partner. But then, there are adoptions like the friend described above where there is no previous relationship in existence that could justify the whole exercise. In the case above, the adoptive child (or adult, rather), happened to have parents of her own. But they were terrible parents - drunken, abusive, promiscuous. That unfortunate child picked herself up by the bootstraps to make something of herself. She met her adoptive parents as colleagues at her place of work and just formed a bond.

In some states, the law requires that there be a certain age gap between adoptive parents and children. But in most states, no such requirement exists. Since the child being adopted is an adult, the parents don't even need the permission of the adult child's parents. It’s the new wave in choosing to adopt a child.