I'm kind of curious on this. I've just had my first families mother turn 60. An orphan then arrived on the doorstep. I couldn't turn her away. Now I've got a 3 year old running round, knowing that the two youngest daughters will be off to college soon and the parents will die.

It got me wondering what's the oldest age somebody was when/if you adopted?

My couple were 42 & 45 years old. They are now both 61 & 63. The young man is off at collage

I can't rember their exact ages, but I had a couple both in their early sixties when a three-year-old turned up at the door. Their other kids were all off at college by then. They both died after five or six years and I opted to move to the next generation, where the kid grew up automagically to be in his twenties.

It did cross my mind to leave him in the house alone, but I'd tried that with another kid in another game; when I saw how depressed he was I had felt it kinder to start the next generation.

I had one adopt at 65. He lived to age 67 when the adopted kid was 5. I went ahead and started a new generation allowing the adopted kid to take over.

I think this is a great option for those who don't have children during child-bearing years, you hang onto that loner and maybe, just maybe you'll get a next generation before the peep dies.