How to Adopt a Child in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Prepare a home with a child's bed and storage, then speak to an eligible child and offer them a place to live. Adoption uses Skyrim's Hearthfire content. If you want an accessible first option, look for Lucia in Whiterun's streets and central plaza. Choose your furnished home during the conversation, then check that the child arrives there.

1. Make sure your home is ready

Check that your copy of Skyrim includes the Hearthfire adoption feature. Then choose a house you own and make sure it has room for a child. An ordinary bed in a house is not enough. The child needs the appropriate bed and storage. For a city home, look for the children's bedroom furnishing. In a Hearthfire house, check that you built the furnishings the child will use.

Visit the house before you speak to anyone about adoption. Inspect the room rather than relying on which furnishing you remember buying. If you plan to adopt two children, prepare space for both. The standard system allows up to two adopted children, with a bed and storage for each. If only one place is ready, start with one adoption and finish the room before attempting another.

2. Find an eligible child

1. Travel to a city with an eligible child, such as Whiterun for Lucia.
2. Look in the streets and central plaza for the child.
3. Speak to them and follow the conversation about their situation.
4. Offer to adopt them when the option appears.
5. Select the prepared home when the game asks where they will live.

Lucia moves around, so check the area during the day if you cannot find her at one exact spot. Read the dialogue instead of assuming that any child can be adopted. The game offers this choice for particular children who are eligible.

3. Choose the correct house

If you own more than one home, read the house choice carefully before selecting it. Choose the one you furnished for the child and plan to visit. The conversation sets the destination. If you were preparing a home in a different city, make sure you select that home rather than the one closest to your current location.

Once the conversation ends, give the child time to reach the house. Go there and check the room. If you arrive immediately and the child is not present, let time pass before assuming the adoption failed. Verify that you are visiting the same home you selected during the dialogue.

4. Check whether you can use the orphanage route

Honorhall Orphanage in Riften is another source of eligible children. Its adoption process can depend on the state of the orphanage and its related story. If you want to use that route, check the dialogue available there and follow the steps it offers. For a first adoption, a child such as Lucia gives you a direct conversation to test after furnishing your home.

You do not need to adopt from the orphanage to use the household feature. Pick the child and route you want and prepare the home first. If one conversation is blocked, check whether that specific route has a story requirement before changing furniture you have already verified.

5. Fix a missing adoption or home option

If the adoption response is missing, check that Hearthfire content is active and that you are talking to an eligible child. If you can offer adoption but your intended home is absent, inspect the child's bed and storage again. Confirm that both are present and that another child has not already taken the only available space.

If the conversation finished but the child never appears, return to the house you actually selected and check again after time passes. For a second adoption, count the available children's spaces before looking for another child. Fixing the room first gives you a clearer test than repeating the same conversation at several locations.

A manual save before the conversation is useful if you are choosing between two prepared houses. You can check where the child arrives and still have a clear point to return to if you selected the wrong home.

If you later furnish another house, check the family dialogue before traveling there. Owning a second house alone does not move your household.