養子: an adopted son and a novel about an adopted child
Compare a couple adopting a relative's child as their son with a reader of a novel about an adoptive family. Keep the family relationship, gender scope and reader's action with each scene.
The couple adopted a relative's child
養子 (ようし) can mean adopted child or adopted son. In “夫婦は親族の子を養子として迎えた。” (“The couple adopted a relative's child as their son.”), the couple adopted a relative's child as their son. 親族の子 identifies the child, and 夫婦 identifies the couple acting.
養子として describes the family relationship in which the child was welcomed. This example's English wording says son, but it does not supply adoption procedures or establish the gender of every person described by 養子.
The speaker read about an adoptive family
In “養子を迎えた家族の暮らしを描く小説を読んだ。” (“I read a novel about the life of a family welcoming an adopted child.”), the speaker read a novel about a family welcoming an adopted child. The family's life is the novel's subject, while 小説を読んだ is the reader's completed action.
Keep the family welcoming the child separate from the speaker reading the novel. Treating the reader as the person who adopted would change both the actor and the reported action.
Preserve the scope of son and child
The first English sentence identifies the adopted relative's child as their son. The novel example says adopted child without establishing that child's gender. Preserve those different scopes instead of extending son to every use of 養子.
These scenes report a couple's adoption and the reading of a novel about a family. They do not give further conditions about age, financial support or an adoption process.
Must both 養子 examples identify sons?
Show the answer and why
No. The first English sentence identifies the adopted relative's child as their son, while the novel example says adopted child without specifying gender. Keep that difference instead of treating every person described by 養子 as a son.