Sibling Adoption - Efforts to Keep Sisters and Brothers Together
as a Family Unit

In sibling adoption, can sisters and brothers remain together as a family unit?

Although it is possible, and some adoption agencies and placement counselors will make every effort to keep siblings together for adoption by one couple or family, in many cases these sisters and brothers find themselves living apart, as adopted children to separate sets of parents.

Why aren't sibling groups kept together?

One of the main reasons for siblings up for adoption not being able to remain together is economic necessity.

Many parents (or sometimes, a single parent) who desire to adopt or are actively in the process of adopting, simply cannot afford to take in and care for more than one adoptive child. Often, those who already have biological children of their own or previously adopted children have room in their homes and lives for only one more child.

Some adopting parents want a child (or children) of a certain age in their lives. Perhaps their preference is an infant (the most popular age for adoption) or a preschooler—and they may want either a girl or boy.

Many times, if adopting parents already have children, they will choose to adopt a child who is of the same age group as their own. In other instances, such couples will desire an adoptive child who is young, now that their own children are in high school, college, or older.

Who is most likely to adopt sibling groups?

Parents who adopt later in life are sometimes the ones who are most likely to seek a sibling adoption. Often, after raising their own children and watching them mature and start adult lives of their own, couples miss the presence of children at home and make the decision to adopt.

Also, if they have raised more than one child, they may be more likely to adopt sibling groups. They, too, are sometimes more inclined to adopt preteens and teenagers than are younger couples.

Why are there so many sibling groups available for adoption?

During times of economic instability or uncertainty, the number of sibling groups available for adoption usually increases. Although the reality of losing their children is heartbreaking and very difficult to deal with, parents on the verge of financial disaster, especially when they have several children, may have to surrender their entire sibling unit for adoption.

Unfortunately, in our fast-paced modern society, many times parents are both lost in fatal automobile or other transportation accidents, or as the result of serious illness or sadly, alcoholism or drug overdose. Also, when parents divorce, it may not be possible for either one to keep the children due to new location, work situation, or state of health and well-being.

Locating your siblings when you are older

When children are separated by adoption—especially at young ages—they often develop a strong desire to be reunited later in life, especially if their memories of life together before adoption are happy or compelling ones.

It’s often easiest for the older children in these separated sibling groups to make the effort to locate and contact their younger brothers and sisters. Of course, with today’s Internet accessibility, even a young child can attempt, often with success, to locate other family members.

In addition to Internet searches, community and court records are good places to begin when searching for separated adopted siblings. Attorneys, often with the aid of social workers, law enforcement personnel and clergy members can usually obtain data relevant to sibling adoption from older or former adoption agency records when separated siblings cannot.

Although laws in some states prohibit parents who have given their children up for legal adoption to initiate a formal search for them later in life, separated siblings are not so restricted.

Although sibling adoption can be very difficult—even traumatic and heartbreaking—for children to experience, the act of reuniting later in life as a sibling unit can bring much joy and feelings of harmony to siblings who grew up apart, sometimes each as “an only child” due to circumstances often beyond their comprehension, understanding or personal control.

**Side Note: Some states encourage adopters to adopt the group of siblings and the state will provide medical and dental insurance and give the parents a monthly check.

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