Legal adoption began in England and Wales in 1962 and in Scotland in 1930, with the first adoption acts. Over the past decade, the number of babies available for adoption has declined dramatically.
Adoption requires both partners to be heavily involved, committed, and positive.
For those women who feel deeply that a part of their life has escaped them as they did not enjoy the months of pregnancy and did not go through the pain of labor and the pleasure of childbirth, for them adoption may not be a good option. Adopted parents should be prepared to accept emotional reactions as the arrival of the adopted child may reawaken feelings of their grief over their infertility, emotions to which they had worked very hard in the past years to overcome. It may also be a reminder of their failure and inability to bear their own children. The adopted parents may feel guilty about their own emotions, when they are trying to establish a loving relationship with their adopted child. As, that new loving relationship starts to develop and intensify, the grief will gradually disappear.