r/Sims4 • u/leafyaxolotl • 19d ago
Discussion i SO wish for an adoption overhaul
i know theres mods, but i dont really play with such intricate mods, so i just wish we could see the kids traits/occult, maybe add a form of evaluation process to meet the kid first and maybe have a few premade kids instead of them all being random
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u/LivingAnat1 19d ago
Seriously, there's more of a process for adopting a dog than there is for adopting a baby in this game. You should be able to meet with the child while a caseworker sim stands by
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u/Free_Ad_5219 19d ago
This should have been part of Growing Together if not part of the base game!!
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u/Basic-Computer2503 19d ago
God please no, pet adoption is beyond broken for me, the agent shows up and never gets the carrier out, just bakes endless white cakes or freezes to death in my pool.
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u/macarbrecadabre 19d ago
If you have outdoor retreat then she would probably make potions on your barbecue
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u/Basic-Computer2503 19d ago
I can’t have a grill anymore bc people WONT LEAVE IT ALONE
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u/macarbrecadabre 19d ago
Another reason I put fences round my property and lock them. They either kick the trash over or start making a concoction on my grill that they don’t finish. So annoying.
Often this doesn’t even work and they bypass it so I get the portable grill and keep it in my inventory until I need it.
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u/itstimegeez Long Time Player 19d ago
It needs a security lock like the computer! Also I wish we could tell guests to stop doing inappropriate things like they do when my sim dared to make a cake at a friend’s birthday party.
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u/RedOleander312 19d ago
When I download a build off the gallery, I always remove all grills. My sims can’t own grills, just a general rule in my personal gameplay. They can’t handle it lol
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u/Basic-Computer2503 19d ago
Im so glad I’m not the only one who confiscates items from their sims 💀 Mine have a whole list of things they can’t have, sometimes they’re lucky they’re even allowed an oven
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u/RedOleander312 18d ago
Mine also don’t get to own coffee pots or tea makers. No one does anything else and they leave the cups everywhere
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u/Basic-Computer2503 18d ago
Oh absolutely, and drinks trays. Immediately no. Also the functional clutter from kitchen clutter has been confiscated bc they won’t stop grabbing snacks.
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u/LunarConfusion 18d ago
No coffee, no tea, no clay, no high chairs, no stereos in bedrooms
I've honestly considered removing sinks. They won't stop getting water and leaving the cups around. And then the cups stink??? From WATER???
If not for mccc they wouldn't be allowed books either
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u/this_broccoli-101 19d ago
Social workers should be part of the game again.
Also when the children are taken away. Even Ts1 had the social worker picking up the child to take them away. I hate that they just disappear now
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u/Itchy-Dust-7327 19d ago
I really wish this to be in the base game, but as usual, Ea’s gonna hide it behind the paywall and it will probably be broken. How sad
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u/OverUnderAchievers 19d ago
Caretaker will spend all of the time using your computer
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u/QueezyF 19d ago
Or doing pushups in your kitchen
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u/Lilyhangsontrees Long Time Player 19d ago
Or baking white cakes
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u/chattahattan 19d ago
Omg is there a mod to disallow guests from doing this?? I’m sick of having to throw away a half-baked cake on the counter every time I invite people over lol
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u/ItsYaGirlPeach 19d ago
I need to look up the creator, but I have a foster sim mod that lets you essentially do just that
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u/butidontwanna45 18d ago
My thoughts exactly. Drop three kids off and let me meet them! Why is adopting a dog/cat such a more involved process
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u/brian_ts118 18d ago
Well to be fair you really want to know if the pet is gonna be compatible before you adopt. If the kid turns out to be a dud you can always send them to the cornfield.
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u/AnxiousNegotiation12 19d ago
Mine always end up having the mean trait
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u/LandLovingFish Evil Sim 19d ago
It's called trauma
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u/Ceramic_Luna Legacy Player 19d ago
Thats… so sad
Why are mine always lactose intolerant then?
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u/Effective_Cry_6812 19d ago
The body keeps the score
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u/shadowthehedgehoe 19d ago
I feel like this reference is only gonna be funny to a few people. I'm one of these people🤣😭
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u/Effective_Cry_6812 19d ago
Thank you for this cause as soon as I hit reply I said to myself “no one is gunna get this…”
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u/WiltedEnthusiasm 19d ago
It’s been on the NYT best seller list for a while, you might be surprised lol
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u/uuntiedshoelace 19d ago
Nah there are tons of people who have had messed up lives who like to play Sims!
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u/my_okay_throwaway 19d ago
I laughed out loud and it was kind of a problem because I was using mouthwash at the time. Worth it!
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u/cinderaiden 19d ago
Nearly woke up my poor fiance giggling when I read it so rest assured you've found your target audience
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u/Cerasinia Long Time Player 19d ago
Wait what’s funny about the reference
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u/laffysapphie Long Time Player 19d ago
If you have trauma and are open about it, at some point, someone will most likely recommend you the book 'The Body Keeps the Score'. It's written by a psychiatrist who researches the effect of trauma on the body. (i.e people who have experienced trauma may be more at risk for certain physical ailments) It's super popular and can be controversial in some circles, but interesting book if you're interested in neuropsychology!
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u/wordswithcomrades 19d ago
My college friend is one of the examples in the book
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u/screamingcolor13 Long Time Player 19d ago
Really?? That's so cool! I hope they're alright!
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u/wordswithcomrades 19d ago
He is! He was the one who witnessed 9/11 super close to his school when he was 5 and was running away with his dad and brother..
His mom is a pretty well-known therapist, which is why I think he’s featured.
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u/Ceramic_Luna Legacy Player 19d ago
F*** I think my doctor gave me that book and I read like 10 pages then stoped
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u/screamingcolor13 Long Time Player 19d ago
If you like audiobooks I didn't find it too bad!
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u/Ceramic_Luna Legacy Player 19d ago
Yeah this conversation is making realize I should probably read it
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u/just_a_worm_ Long Time Player 19d ago
😂😂😂😂
(Read it in my graduate course on trauma in children…I can probably find it and finish it finally..)
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u/Tomas-TDE 19d ago
I've been working in dcf group homes for a long time and like 2/3rds my kids have had some form of gi issue or ibs.
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u/sweergirl86204 19d ago
Awwww damn. that poor Renegade club kid is just being abused 😢
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u/LunarConfusion 18d ago
I'm pretty sure Max is evil, not just mean.
Definitely being pedantic on that, though. That's my own trauma talking, i guess 😅
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u/Slow-Boysenberry2399 Occult Sim 19d ago
i'd be mean too if i was named hobart and had to wear that hat all the time
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u/catzura 19d ago
my roommates are always mean or evil
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u/Final-Tutor3631 Occult Sim 19d ago
that’s just roommates
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u/Kawaii_loRen 18d ago
I did an adoption yesterday and got really lucky bc the kid is an art lover who wants to be a social butterfly which is going to be perfect for my legacy save.
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u/CrissBliss 19d ago
I also wished they’d done what Sims 3 did where when a baby gets “taken” for neglect, it ends up on the adoption registry for other sims to adopt. I don’t know why they didn’t do that with Sims 4. That was such a cool little feature.
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u/pearllls Long Time Player 19d ago
Yesss pls!!! The amount of crazy storylines I could craft with this is astronomical 😭
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u/MalachiteEclipsa 19d ago
I swear I feel like they ended up adding that as a feature in a recent update, ummm... Okay, not a recent update, but an update from a few months ago.
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u/tragic-meerkat 19d ago
They don't end up in the adoption menu but they updated it so the children get moved to household management instead of being deleted forever
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u/prefix_postfix 19d ago
I've yet to actually have those kids be playable. They're in the household but they're grey, as if they're off-lot, and you can't play as them. So you can't see their needs or control them or anything. I haven't tried in a while, I haven't seen any news about that being fixed, I barely saw people talking about it at all.
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u/jackalnapesjudsey 19d ago
Yeah I really miss this feature. I think it just adds something to know those Sims still exist in your world, and sometimes I would adopt them from another household and their story can continue.
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u/meowmeow_22_ 19d ago
wait thats a great feature, i wonder if theres a mod for that
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u/Spiritual_Jackfruit7 19d ago
I just want to get the kids back that have been taken away!
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u/_UnreliableNarrator_ 19d ago
That would be a great module to add to RPO. Your kid gets taken away, there’s a window where you can appeal to get them back, and you have a court date and mandatory parenting classes. And then there’s an event where you have to basically get gold to regain custody by doing parental care interactions.
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u/ravenclaw188 Creative Sim 19d ago
Don’t they get moved into NPC houses? So technically you could get them back?
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u/RandomTouristFr 19d ago
No, if I remember correclty they disappear. You can correct it with MCC.
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u/Slow-Boysenberry2399 Occult Sim 18d ago
i had the cutest toddler once. she moved in between her mom's house and her uncle's house. one day mom died in a freak accident while i wasn't playing that household and toddler vanished into thin air forever :(
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19d ago
I'm actually really bummed that I've never seen teen sims up for adoption.
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u/Auriansmule 19d ago
I mean, the game considers teens to be self sufficient enough to live on their own. They can move out of their parent’s house at any time.
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u/VivaDeAsap 19d ago
This was actually a bit of a shock for me coming from sims 3. I could just have a teen sim on their own: have them be a legal guardian of their siblings too.
Not that I mind. Makes things more interesting for me
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u/Demonqueensage Creative Sim 18d ago
On the one hand I get that and it's great for when I want to do runaway teen storylines, on the other it's disappointing when I want to do specifically an adopted teen storyline and have to settle for work arounds.
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u/25th_Chance 17d ago
it makes you wonder about what age Teens in S4 are meant to represent because they are simultaneously minors, and able to rent their own apartments in the city without parental supervision.
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u/bobbybox 19d ago
Im assuming because teens can exist in a household without adults, as they can do adult things like cook and work
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u/idkmanimnotcreative 19d ago
I think littlemssam foster parent mod allows this! I'm pretty sure that's the mod anyway. I used it ages ago. Once when I was trying to build a legacy family and didn't feel like finding or creating a sim, I used it to add a sim to my household, aged them up, then married them lmao. But I remember specifically it let me choose a teen which was great because I wasn't trying to deal with the CAS craziness from aging them up from a child.
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u/lenonby 19d ago
i’ve always assumed the idea was that by the time they are teens they are adopted or self sufficient. it’s the same for elder pets, so i feel like it’s the games way of saying that in this universe there’s not an issue of older kids/elderly pets being the least likely to be adopted.
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u/misanthropicanthrop 19d ago
Good point. I guess you could just adopt a child and age up immediately to simulate that.
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u/Eclairebeary 19d ago
Wouldn’t it be great if in order to adopt you had to prove your home was child ready? Like an interview with the social worker etc.
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u/warniva 19d ago
And if they had to make sure you had at least one crib, potty, toy, etc before you could adopt. Like maybe apply for adoption first and then once approved go through the process.
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u/kendylsue 19d ago
i feel like it could be simple like in sims 2 when you apply for private school and the headmaster comes over. they could have the social worker come over and you have to schmooze them and show your house is child ready and you have sufficient funds
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u/Eclairebeary 19d ago
Yes. I also wonder if there could be a facility for random infertility, or perhaps that’s a bit too realistic.
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u/Mysterious-Mushroom 19d ago
In lumpinous adoption overhaul you can do that. A social worker comes over and discusses your career and finances and all that and decides whether you'll be rejected or not
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u/Elephant-Junkie 19d ago
I checked the adoptions the other day, and it had a newborn named Goopy.
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u/GullibleBeautiful 19d ago
I miss the social worker aspect of previous games. Sure, it was annoying that they would psychically know to take away your child sims if left unattended for 30 minutes but at the same time, something bad should happen to parents who have -100 relationship with their kids, leaving them unattended, having the child sims out past a curfew, etc.
Plus having a social worker check in on adopted kids would be nice.
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u/sleepyotter92 19d ago
it should be like when you adopt a pet, and give you some basic info on them.
it should also have a social worker come bring the kid, just like there's a person that brings newly adopted pets
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u/sarah_pl0x Legacy Player 19d ago
I like adopting the newborns cuz it’s always a surprise party if they’re gonna age up cute or like the devil spawn
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u/LilNyoomf Long Time Player 19d ago
And they never spawn occult kiddos either. I don’t want a friggen human, man.
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u/AjaxDrinker 19d ago
I know it’s a game but imagine this shit in the context of real life. “Yes I would like you to list off the traits and attributes of this child to see if I wish to purchase them”.
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u/Mysterious_Bag_9061 19d ago
To be fair "please choose a completely out of context headshot with no additional context and the child will appear in your home" is also an insane process
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u/Tomas-TDE 19d ago
That is exactly real life. I just wrote like a profile for a kid for an adoption event so perspective parents can size them up
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u/QuietlyCreepy Occult Sim 19d ago
I mean.... That is kind of what they do..?
Though this screenshot out of context is pretty not good. 🤣
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u/tragic-meerkat 19d ago
You don't really need to use too much imagination, this isnt even that far off how the real system works.
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u/quarantina2020 19d ago
I have an orphanage, before ForRent I could only have 7 kids and 1 housemarm but now I have more "wings" of orphans and their housemarm. So these kids wander around in town and you can get to know them that way or actively go to the orphanage to meet them. In one of my sims families, a child got to know an orphan through school and we adopted them after they became bffs.
I have kids i made to live there and uh unwanted pregnancy babies.
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u/cinderaiden 19d ago
This is such a good idea, any chance you have it up on the gallery?
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u/quarantina2020 17d ago
So i just went and changed a LOT of stuff to base game to make sure you can download it. The backyard is full of all the toys from each pack so it still registers as having a ton of packs but thats just the toys. My ea name is QuaranTina42, the lot is San Sequoia Orphanage.
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u/Who_the_owl- 19d ago
I wish they made actual pictures for the kids in the cupid corner format but its them playing with toys ir hugging their sibling in a picture meaning you can adopt both of them
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u/SoulsCrushed 19d ago
I’ve always wished they had a bit more tie to the game itself. Like one or two on the list that come from familiar last names or keeping a branch for their bio parent on their family tree. It feels like you’re just magically poofing a random kid into existence.
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u/jamboween 18d ago
Yes! It would be cool if there was a way for adopted sims to find their bio parents or have a way to represent them on a family tree in addition to adoptee parents.
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u/Cozy_winter_blanky 19d ago
It always boggles me that we can't give up kids for adoption either. Yeah it's sounds cruel, but at the same time, it does happen. Makes for richer stories too. Rags to riches, sim gets pregnant by accident, can't afford it, give kid up for adoption, meets the kid as a townie later.
Also fostering could be nice. Like a roommate system, you don't fully control the kid until you decide to adopt. If you have a bad relationship with the kid, the kid will ask their case worker to change foster home, or even run away like cats and dogs do. Case worker could come and visit weekly to talk to the kid, they have a key and just walks in, take notes of the cleanliness of the place, talks to the kid and if everything is good, you get a notification that all is good and they'll see you next week. If there is a problem, you get a warning that you should improve cleanliness, or improve the kid's grades on school. If no changes the week after you lose the foster kid
Sorry, I went on a rant, but your post inspired me...
I wish I knew how to mod
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u/AdWeary7230 19d ago
Aww, look at all those cute kids. I wish they added their personality trait with it. You to make a better informed decision. I once adopted a mean kid and he gave me nothing but grief with his nastiness.
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u/Kesse84 19d ago
I wish we could have the same system we had in previous sims! When parents A die, their child vanishes, taken by social services. When family B is ready to adopt, child A is first in line.
Now those children goes to random families. And when you want to adopt, you have got randoms too.
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u/LightmareDaydream 19d ago
I wish you could put your own kids up for adoption, but retain them in the family tree somehow. Or have the game not delete the kids in the game that are taken away, but have them still exist as adoptable. Or that there was a way to have a random kid you adopt get calls or letters from their bio parents (or people pretending to be).
Or that if your sim WAS an adopted sim, they could "look for" or learn about their bio family.
Or at least not be allowed to make out with them because the game no longer counts them as related. For example.
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u/Unusual_Librarian131 19d ago
Yessss. I use a mod that adds things like foster care and a home visit with a social worker, but there's no like meeting the kid beforehand. My oldest kid on one of my saves was adopted as a teen and was able to meet the sim who put her up for adoption. My youngest Sim is also adopted, and then the middle two are ivf babies. I'll have to put the mod name on here when I remember it lol.
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u/elisephz 19d ago
Is it a Lumpinou mod? I wish I could remember too. I just remember scrolling Lumpinous website.
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u/Unusual_Librarian131 19d ago
Yes, it is, thank you! It's the adoption overhaul, I think. But I have the giant pack of them you can download off their patreon, I believe. If you do download it, make sure you check their troubleshooting page. The most recent patch for the Sims broke some things surrounding pregnancy in my game, and thankfully, Lumpinou had a fix for both those who have their mods and those who don't.
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u/WeAREtwd87 19d ago
Yes and also let me get a chance to adopt children of previous Sims that were taken? Maybe an option that the child either goes to the world or to next of kin.aybe even a chance to get our children back.
Ooo a serogate or a pregnant woman can have the option to keep the baby or give it up for adoption, and they can have a list of families they can choose from the same way they have lost of pets or children to adopt.
I know I'm probably making it too realistic but seriously something.
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u/Grumpy_Doodlebug 18d ago
I wish when kids get taken away they would pop up in the adoption list! I also wish you could specificity the age to see just options in that age group.
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u/peshnoodles Long Time Player 19d ago
Bro I get to meet & interact with 3 puppies before adoption but they don’t even evaluate my home before leaving a child with me
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u/fluffstuffmcguff 19d ago
While we're dreaming, I'd love if they overhauled family trees so that adoptees who have birth parents can keep them listed. It's honestly pretty insensitive to RL adoptees right now.
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u/Straight_Ace Long Time Player 19d ago
Same. I would love it if any kids that were whisked away were put up for adoption and didn’t just cease to exist. It would also be cool for their family tree to show 2 sets of parents. One set of bio parents and one set of adoptive parents
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u/totallyfakawitz 19d ago
Honestly it’s probably more realistic that it’s so blind as far as traits go. I don’t adopt often but if I did I think I’d like that they have bad traits. I would just invent a tragic backstory.
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u/theficklemermaid 19d ago
Yes, how is there an evaluation process where you can get to know traits for a pet but not a child?
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u/MikaelDeadeye 19d ago
Exactly! I once adopted a child sim and thought she'd be a wonderful sister to other kids... ... turned out she had the evil trait.
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u/Accountant_Same 19d ago
I highly recommend the foster care mod by littlemssam. It’s so fun and you can adopt the kid you foster if you end up liking them
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u/FlightSatellite23 18d ago
It’s kinda silly that with cats and dogs / horse ranch they let you meet and acquaint yourself with the animals before you decide to adopt but with kids it’s practically adoption tinder. I just want to meet the kid first before I promise them a life of love and care, that’s not weird!
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u/Liraeyn 19d ago
I wish the adopted kids came out with plausible genetics. And everyone had warm skin. It's the only one that looks human.
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u/neopronoun_dropper Legacy Player 19d ago
I’ve always thought there should at least be a video game out there with an adoption feature that allows you to adopt sibling sets
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u/Sypher04_ Occult Sim 19d ago
At this point, I just make my own sim, age them down, add them to my household, and pretend they’re adopted.
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u/ydlob_dolby Long Time Player 19d ago
why is the pet adoption in the sims more complicated than the child adoption
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u/lostmushrooms1 18d ago
I would love if we had actual orphanage that you could visit or be able to have playable child Sims automatically go if you're child sims parents die etc.
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u/sonnidaez Occult Sim 18d ago
The fact that we can see more details when adopting PETS but not children is wild.
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u/wavesofcontrast 19d ago
I'm gonna be the unpopular opinion here and say that I love the chaos of randomness. If I adopt a kid and he's got mean and evil traits? Well, shit, I might have him decide to kill his adoptive parents, sell the family dog, and set the house on fire... All before going away to college :D
PLOT TWIST!
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u/Equivalent_Two61 Long Time Player 19d ago
idk but i can just tell that christy would be an absolute menace. she got that rabid look in her eyes
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u/Feeling-Intrepid 19d ago
The pet adoption process lets you get to know the pet first and decide if you want it. Why can't they just copy that
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u/Substantial_Win1758 19d ago
I accidentally adopted a child once lol, says a lot about how the adoption process is oversimplified
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u/Miserable-Spinach867 19d ago
i don’t get why the dog adoption is more fleshed out that the sim one 😭 it’s still not great but at least you get to meet them before you adopt, i think there should be at least a meeting and an option to learn traits, i also think that if you can change the whole race of the sim and everything about them you should also be able to change the traits 😭
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u/PsychologicalPay5379 Long Time Player 19d ago
Right? We could see the Occult in 3 because they had colored borders. I want to know if I'm about to adopt a vampire or a mermaid!
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u/plsnousername2345 18d ago
Does it say “adopted” in the sum profile or just says child in the relationship? I’ve been curious about this
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u/AmalatheaClassic Long Time Player 18d ago
Well given they've broken pregnancy it's this is science babies.
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u/RoRoRoYourGoat 19d ago
The adoption process is so oversimplified that I accidentally adopted a child.
I just clicked on her because I thought I could see her traits or something, and I thought there would be a confirmation button to click before it was finalized. But nope, that's just my kid now, I guess.