As I said, there was one man in my "cohort" -- the group of parents that went through the adoption training together. He was a tradesman -- single, self-employed, my guess in his early 40's; he passed the screening process and adopted a school-age boy. This is a "local authority" in the UK. I'm sure rules vary from place to place, depending on culture, experience, and need. I do know they look extensively at your support network, history, and so on; presumably the requirements for a support network are higher when you're going to be a single adoptive parent.