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An infant is defined as a child below the age of two years. Infant adoption is more complex than regular adoption simply because there are a fewer number of infants who are up for adoption. Normally, adoption takes a lot of time as we saw earlier, but this goes against the very nature of infant adoption.

Benefits of Infant Adoption

People choose to adopt infants for several reasons. The most important one is that the infant has no memory of previous parents and is "yours" from the very beginning. This is a psychological satisfaction for most people and there's no doubt that the greatest bonding between parent and child comes about when it starts at a very early age.

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Also, many adoptive parents like to begin inculcating their values into their children as soon as as possible. This need not be early enough with an older child. Older children are also more likely to have emotional issues arising from their adoption. Infants however, are tabula rasa - a blank slate. Finally, many people would be too young to raise an older child. With infants, they can be at the proper age when their child is in their teens, giving them space to mature and learn.

Methods of Adoption

There are three major ways in which infants can be adopted, and not all are very well suited for it. For example, public agencies are the choice for those parents who want everything taken care of without spending a lot of money. The problem is that the waiting period is prohibitively long and most people are not willing to put up with that.

Private Licensed agencies are the second mode of adoption and are more flexible than public agencies. However once more, the waiting period may be long and adoptive parents don't get a chance to meet the child's birth parents. This may be a deal breaker for some people. In addition, those working for such agencies may have their own ideas about who a suitable parent is and you might be forced to wait or be denied their services altogether.

Independent adoption is the most flexible, where adoptive parents are in direct contact with the birth parents through an attorney who is conversant with such matters. Unfortunately, Colorado does not allow independent adoption, but if the child is to be placed outside Colorado in a state where such adoption is legal, then there are good chances of it being authorized.