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converting minor is immersed under beis din’s aegis“and they become
like a father to him,” is to tell us that if the minor has a biological fa-
ther who interferes with his conversion, beis din does not become his
“father.” Similarly, if the adopted family does not observe the Torah,
the conversion is not valid.

We shall now discuss the third problem mentioned in the ques-
tion, namely the issue of seclusion with adopted children:

The prohibition of yichud also applies to adopted children, even
if they were adopted at birth, since there is no blood relationship
between the adoptive family and the adopted child (see Otzar
Haposkim, end of Vol. 9). The gemara’s statement in Sanhedrin
(19b),“Whoever raises an orphan in his home, it is as though he gave
birth to him” – which seemingly ignores the issue of yichud – is no
contradiction for there is a difference between the two cases. When
people raise an orphan it is well known that he is not the child of
the family raising him, so they are careful to avoid yichud. In the case
of an adopted child, adoptive parents usually try to conceal the fact
of his adoption and are therefore likely to violate the prohibition of
yichud. A woman must thus avoid being secluded with her adopted
son once he has reached the age of nine and a husband must avoid
being secluded with his adopted daughter from when she is three
years old. [In order avoid situations of yichud a house key can be given
to neighbors, who should be asked to enter from time to time.] It is
therefore written in Otzar Hadinim: “If a person wants to adopt a
child, it is better to adopt a girl than a boy, because a woman is at
home most of the time and she guards her husband from prohibited
yichud with his adopted daughter.

The gemara says in Kesuvos (50a) “‘Happy are those who uphold
justice, who practice charity at all times’ (Tehillim 106:3) – this refers
to someone who raises an orphan in his home and marries them
off.” Undertaking to adopt a child thus constitutes a vow to fulfill a
mitzvah and one cannot retract. The adoptive parent must therefore
concern him/herself with the welfare of the adopted child and supply
all his nutritional, educational and other needs just as natural parents
do, as it is written in Shmuel II 2:3,“It ate from his bread, drank from

Adopting a Child 2 499