Adoption

Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth mother or father. An adoption order has the effect of severing the parental responsibilities and rights of the birth parents and transferring those responsibilities and rights onto the adoptive parent/s. After the finalization of an adoption, there is no legal difference between adopted children and those born to the parents. There are several kinds of adoption, which can be defined both by effect (e.g., whether the adoption is open or closed, see below) and by location and the origin of the child (i.e., domestic or international adoption).

In most jurisdictions, adoption begins with the decision of the birth parents to place their unborn baby or newborn child with another family. Birth parents may be able to choose what family they would like their child to belong to. Depending on jurisdiction and local law, they may already know of a family that want to adopt, or they may find people who want to adopt by going to a lawyer, social services, or by finding a private or state agency that facilitates adoptions. Privately arranged adoptions are illegal in some jurisdictions. The birth parents may have the option of choosing whether they want an open, semi-open, or closed adoption. They may be given Parent Profiles to look at and choose from, or the agency may choose a family for them.

Open adoption is where the adopted person has access to their file and/or original records. This may be a right available at certain ages - e.g., at age 18, a person adopted in the United Kingdom becomes automatically entitled to their birth certificate and may access their adoption records.

Another definition of open adoption is where birth parents decide that they would like to meet the adoptive parents before they choose to place their baby with them. If the birth parents are comfortable with the family, the relationship may continue to grow. Even when the adoption is finalized, the relationship can be very personal, and can include visits, phone calls, and exchanging letters, pictures or e-mails. The adopted child can meet his/her birth family and communication is as open as the parties involved decide upon. In some jurisdictions, open adoptions are not legally enforceable agreements. As of December 2005, for example, 22 U.S. states have legal provisions for enforceable open adoption contact agreements, while 28 do not.

In a semi-open adoption, the birth parents may meet the adoptive parents one or several times and then have no more physical contact. Letters and pictures may be exchanged directly or via a third party, such as an adoption agency, throughout the years. The relationship may remain semi-open or may evolve into open or closed.

In closed adoptions, non-identifying information is shared between the parties involved, such as medical history, up to the point of placement. After the adoption is legalized, no further information is shared between the adoptive and birth parents.

In other closed adoptions no information is shared between the parties involved. This may occur because of the law in the jurisdiction concerned, or court order, such as when a child is removed from the home by the state because of abuse or neglect. It may also occur because the parties involved do not want any contact.