ouple's having children of their own, their strong family urge may lead
them to adopt some. They can find useful information in E. G.
Gallagher's _The Adopted Child_. It often happens that people get as
much satisfaction out of adopted children as they could have got out of
their own, finding cause for pride, inspiration, and comfort in their
unfolding toward maturity.

The question of whether we should adopt children when infants or
later--at some age under six--is worth considering. It may seem at first
glance that only infants raised from the cradle can really take the
place of children of our own. While this is partly true, there are
drawbacks to be considered. To begin with, the supply of infants for
adoption is not by any means large enough to meet the demand. Second,
more than half the number of small babies available are illegitimate,
and one can often learn little about the parentage. Though various
child-placing agencies find it difficult to allocate those children who
do not become available for adoption till the age of three or four or
later, there are many things to be said in favor of taking an older
child. More often they are legitimate and more facts about their
parentage can be ascertained; also, it is possible to apply intelligence
tests which will disclose whether their intelligence is normal or above.
Often those parents who want to adopt children tend to be intellectual,
and will find greater happiness in--and give greater happiness to--a
child who is of normal or superior intelligence.

You may object to the older child's early environment, thinking that it
must have permanently injured even the fairest of capacities. But
psychologists tell us that this is not really the case, and that the
unhappy effects of poor environment during the first five years of a
child's life can be removed, and the child reconditioned without too
much trouble. Couples who are no longer young should, perhaps, adopt
older children in order that they may stand in the most helpful age
relation to them.

Children adopted as infants should always be told that they are not the
flesh-and-bone children of the foster parents. This information, which
is bound to come to them, will come with less shock from the parents
themselves. At the age of five or six, when they first begin to be
interested in where children come from, is a good time to tell them. It
is agreed that the foster parents should use the word "chosen" rather
than