What is 'adopt as care dependent'?

"mctsimmer;c-15802335" wrote:
In my game it came up for the toddler whose mother lived outside the household. His brother, also a toddler couldn't get her for caregiver. But that might be because he picked his uncle for this role. So, I think only one person can take on this role.

More than one can take on the role. I set Gunther Munch as caregiver for his stepsons Emory and Cameron Holiday (Summer had twins with Gavin Richards thanks to MC Command Center), then when they got divorced and Gunther moved in with my Sim with Emory, I was able to set her as caregiver as well. But Emory still shows as just a "roommate" to all the other Sims in the household. You also have to adopt as care dependent to have the Parenting menu show up if you have Parenthood installed -- parents (through birth or adoption) get care dependent by default, but if you've got any sort of step-parent or other situation (like an aunt/uncle or older sibling raising the younger children) you have to adopt the step-kids as care dependents to be able to use the parenting options.