Q: I am a mother of a 3 years old girl. My husband and I want to adopt a second child. We want to give a comfortable life, love and affection to a child who needs it but I prefer adopting a child who is around 3-6 months old because I feel the bonding would be better. I need to know how should we prepare ourselves for this? Should we undergo some counselling to get ourselves better situated? And how should we tell our girl, our parents and family about it? How can we develop a strong bond with our adopted child? I have heard that initially adoption works but tends to fail later. Is this true? Can you guide us?

A:Please go to the website www.csa.org.in. They have a list of resource people in different places and support groups in different States of India. The Adoption Coordinating Agencies in different States have provision for counselling services. The list of ACAs is on the CARA website www.adoptionindia.nic.in.

Adoption is a lifelong relationship. We work on keeping all our relationships - adoptive ones are the same. They too need unconditional love, time and energy. The age of the child is only one of several factors that influence bonding. You should both take pre-adoption counselling and join an adoption support group to get more clarity. After that, make an informed choice about adoption.