Adoptive parents tend to be in their 30s

The average age bracket of New Zealand couples looking into adoption is in the 30s, as couples delay having children.
Child Youth and Family and the Open Adoption Network said couples either knew early on in life they weren't able to get pregnant, or they had left it too late before starting to try to conceive.
In the Bay of Plenty, 12 infant New Zealand children have been adopted out since December 2007 from the Bay of Plenty Child Youth and Family office, based in Rotorua.
At present 13 Bay couples have been approved for adoption within New Zealand and are waiting for a baby.
This compares with 270 applicants throughout the country who have been approved and are waiting to adopt a child within New Zealand.
Ninety-three approved applicants are waiting to adopt a child from outside the country.
Open Adoption Network committee member Anthony Lawler said many people were busy with their careers and then when they reached the age of between 30 and 35, when they wanted to start a family, the rates of conception were down.
"Even for people with no fertility issues, the later you leave it, the later the chances of conceiving," he said.
Mr Lawler said infertility was the main reason couples in New Zealand looked to adopt.
"Demand is high. In Auckland in the last year, there have been 12 adoptions and 95 couples approved in the adoption pool.
"There were eight times as many couples as there were babies."
The role of Open Adoption Network was to support couples going through the official Child Youth and Family process.
Mr Lawler said once an adoption had occurred, Open Adoption Network encouraged openness and a connection with the birth parents.
How much ongoing contact couples have, however, is up to them.
The number of closed adoptions was reducing due to the "massive benefits" seen from open adoptions, which allowed children to ask questions, Mr Lawler said.
Child Youth and Family administers adoptions in New Zealand and manager of care and protection Debbie Sturmfels believed the trend of people wanting to adopt was going down for three reasons:
Awareness around the fact that fewer babies were being put up for adoption; More fertility options, including IVF and surrogacy;
And more couples choosing to be child-free, which today, is more accepted in society.
Adoption peaked in New Zealand in 1971, when there were 3976 adoptions - 6 per cent of all live births.
This is compared with the 2010 fiscal year, when 199 adoptions were approved in New Zealand.
Ms Sturmfels said the numbers were declining due to more adoptions being made within the extended family.
In 1979, it was almost exclusively women, and single women, putting their child up for adoption, she said.
Nowadays, fathers were also involved in the decision making when a child was put up for adoption.
Child Youth and Family senior adviser for adoption Eileen Preston said the law required both parents to sign the registration for the baby's birth, so more fathers were getting involved.
It is ultimately the birth parents who decide who they want their child to go to, so waiting times for couples wanting to adopt can vary greatly.
Ms Preston said sometimes childless couples would choose not to wait, or fall pregnant while waiting.
Parents who are giving up their children are not able to sign their consent form until the 12th day after birth.
Ms Preston said they had the right to change their minds about the decision at any point during those 12 days.
After consent had been signed and the placement made, Ms Preston said, it was "very rare" for birth parents to renege on their decision.
If they did, they would need to go before a judge in court and come up with legal reasons why they should have their child back.
Ms Preston said the process to regain birth-rights was tough, so the process undertaken beforehand was rigorous to make sure birth parents understood what they were doing.
ADOPTION OPTION WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS - P21