Starting at what age do you consider a child as "older"

Personally, I'm one of the people who used to think that 'older children' were those who were at least 5 and up. After we adopted a three year old, I changed my definition entirely. After our experiences, we said we'd never adopt a child older than 12 months---and might go as high as 18months. We thought that a child who'd just turned three(removed as a tiny infant and raised by a less-than-desireable foster couple)---was delayed as well, would easily work into our family and be 'formed' with a lot of 'us'. Sadly, this was not the case; and frankly, I was shocked to see just how much damage this boy had already absorbed....damage that wasn't turned around either. Sincerely, Linny

The answer will be different for each person responding. Some people consider older to mean age 5 or up. Generally, most state DSS offices consider children age 7 and up as "older." Apparently 7 seems to be the cutoff when kids become harder to place. I have had placement of a 9, 11 and 13 year old sibling group for 10 months, and it is going great. I wouldn't have it any other way. They have their own personalities and characters, but they are still kids who can be encouraged, molded and educated as they head into their teenage years. I don't regret the adoption of my "older" kids one bit!

I consider anything over one year of age, and OLDER child adoption...I adopted a girl at 3.5 and she was MORE like a teenager at 3.5 than most teenagers I've seen!

The differences in definitions are confusing. Like, when I tell people I'm looking to adopt a "older" child, most are still shocked when I tell them the age range I'm consider (9-13yrs). From what I've seen, anything above 24months can be considered "older."

I'm a psych major who's done a lot of reading on attachment and adoption issues, and based on the literature, any child over about 9-12 months at adoption should be thought of as an older adopted child.