Why can't I adopt children despite having a steading in Falkreath?

I bought two pieces of land. One from Morthal, and one from Falkreath. Morthal was the first plot of land I purchased. I only finished half of it. I bought the plot of land in falkreath because I liked the nature better. I finished the house completely in Falkreath. Every time I try to adopt a child off the streets it keeps saying "I have a place but no room for you" Even though I have the bedrooms in my Falkreath house. Why can I not adopt a child and have him/her live at my house in Falkreath?


Make sure you have a childrens' bedroom built to be able to adopt children. And also have a child's bed and chests otherwise your dialogue selection will say you don't have room for them right now.


In order to adopt children you need to put in two childs beds AND the childs chests. You have to have the chests too otherwise it won't work :) That's what happened to me, if that didn't work then I literally have no idea, try and adopt homeless children (like in whiterun or windhelm) instead of the orphanage.


All you have to do is have the chests & the beds. Single beds work as well if you don't have the Bedrooms addition to your house. Just make sure your children have either the child beds + the chests or single beds if you have no Bedrooms addition. I freaked out too when I couldn't adopt a child. Time passed and my husband and I lived in a half decorated house. I asked my house steward to finish decorating the house. After the rest of the furniture came that I was too lazy to get the materials for, I talked to an orphan in the street of Whiterun. I decided to see if now, since the house was finished if I could adopt her. So, I looked, and it was an option. Simple as that. ♥


You must have a child's bedroom before you can adopt the little kids. You will become a parent and get and achievement called Proud Parent. Which gives you a 10 gamerscore.