Here in Arizona, there are laws that say if your family is too large (I forget if it is like 5 or w/e, but I have been hearing a lot about it by my TBM friends) you have to go to court and they can decide if you are able to adopt more kids.

One of my friends starts by saying how "silly" that is. I then describe how they have had a lot of problems with neglect and other things with large families.

Next he says "well that can happen when you raise kids outside the gospel, and sleep around, and have an unstable family situation" to which I told him "actually, there are plenty of good people out there in solid relationships who don't sleep around and who haven't been divorced"

That shut him up pretty quick. It was kind of funny to see this kind of uninformed outburst, but I have seen it more and more recently. The people in TSCC just think they are above everyone else, and that their lives are better put together. If we hadn't ended the conversation right there, I would have went on about how Utah has it the worst with most of the social problems that "silly" laws tend to try and prevent

You did well....educate the uninformed. They need it. And yes, as a teacher, there are plenty of families with only 2 or 3 kids who do not take good care of them. They come to school with hair not combed, mouth dirty, etc. So i say Good for Arizona. They try to stop neglect before it happens. Bet some of those parents never want to step inside a courtroom so with this requirement, then many never go forward with it. So that takes care of that.

Isn't the chief concern about reasonable finances?

Im guessing it is; No use over-extending as 'many' LDS families do, IMHO.

I am pretty sure this is a big factor too. The same guy who I had the dialouge with said his family had a hard time getting their 7th, when 3 were already out of the house and his dad is pretty well off so I don't know

I think lots of things have obviously changed but in the 80's my husband & i were thinking about adopting(I was able to have children, just never did)(hubby had 2 sons from a previous marriage) and the adoption agencies wouldn't even speak to you(or much more than speak) if either had been previously married and divorced. I know since then, it's changed and it should have.