Speaking of cute babies, because of the children going around, and most especially the Witt twins, there was a large wave of baby fever. They were all envious of the cuteness, the giggles, and the warmth brought to the families with children.
There was an option for adoption, but many parents-wanabee would not choose this route. For one, not everyone was qualified to adopt from the Alterran orphanage, which had a lot of requirements that would secure the child's future, at least until adulthood.
Another was that not many were willing to adopt at all.
One reason was that many wanted to bond with the child from a young age. By this time, the children who had survived were already relatively old, already in their tweens, the remaining little ones were around 8 or 9 years old already.
The 'cute and warm' phase was over, and they would have to deal with the hormonal teens in a few years, not many parents-wanabee wanted to deal with that, especially when it wasn't even a relative.
