Adoption is a legal process by which people take as their own son or daughter a person not born to them. Most adoptees (adopted people) are adopted when they are children. Adoptees are entitled to the same privileges as children born to a parent or parents, including the right to inherit property. This article chiefly discusses the adoption of children.
Many adoptions occur partly out of a need to find permanent, loving families for children whose birth parents cannot raise them. Many adults adopt children because they are, for medical reasons, unable to become birth parents. Other people choose to become adoptive parents in addition to, or instead of, being birth parents. Research shows that most adoptions work out well and that most adopted children develop normally.
In the United States, there are about 2 million adopted children under the age of 18. Each year, approximately 150,000 children are adopted, two-thirds of them by their relatives. In Canada, about 15,000 children are adopted every year.
The adoption process
is similar in the United States and Canada. In the United States, licensed agencies arrange most adoptions by nonrelatives. These agencies are either privately funded or public and tax-supported. In Canada, provincial agencies handle most adoptions by nonrelatives. Agency adoptions involve three steps: (1) the legal separation of a child from the birth parents, (2) the transfer of custody to a qualified adoption agency, and (3) the transfer of parental rights and responsibilities to the adoptive parents.
When a couple apply to an adoption agency, the agency assigns them a caseworker. The caseworker obtains information about the couple’s health and emotional maturity and answers their questions about the physical and emotional development of the child they want to adopt. The caseworker also makes sure the couple have a stable relationship and can afford to support the child. This process often is called the home study.
Single people are increasingly becoming adoptive parents. Sometimes agencies place children who have special needs with single individuals when two-parent homes cannot be found. Children with special needs include disabled, emotionally disturbed, or older children; ethnic minorities; and brothers and sisters who need to be adopted together. Most special needs children in the United States for whom adoptive parents have not been found live in foster care (see Foster care ).
Some people adopt a child without the services of an agency. In many of these cases, physicians and lawyers put birth parents in touch with couples wishing to adopt. These adoptions are called private, or independent, adoptions. Many private adoptions do not involve a thorough home study. Private adoptions are illegal in some states.
In most states and provinces, adoptions do not become legal until children have lived in the home of their adoptive parents for 6 to 12 months. A lawyer then prepares a formal request for adoption. The adoptive parents submit the request to the proper court. If the court approves the request, the adoption becomes legal.
International adoptions.
Most adoptive parents adopt children who were born in the country in which the adoptive parents live. Since the 1960’s, however, the number of people waiting to adopt children has risen while the number of available children has declined. Therefore, some people adopt children from other countries. In the early 2000’s, the largest number of international adoptees in the United States arrived from China, Guatemala, and Russia.
The United Nations has established guidelines concerning the rights of international adoptees. These guidelines recommend using authorized adoption agencies that can provide the same protection that children receive in national adoptions. According to the guidelines, the child should have an official name, nationality, and legal representation at every stage of the adoption process. In 1993, the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption outlined rules that would protect children and their birth families from illegal adoption processes. The rules also served to prevent the abduction or the selling of children. However, not all countries follow the Hague Convention’s standards.
Transracial adoptions.
A transracial adoption occurs when a couple or a person adopts someone of another race or ethnic heritage. Many international adoptions are also transracial adoptions. Transracial adoptions make up a small percentage of all adoptions. In the past, transracial adoptions were used as a method of cultural and racial assimilation (blending into a new culture).
Black market adoptions.
The scarcity of adoptable infants has led, in some cases, to the buying and selling of babies. Such transactions, known as black market adoptions, are against the law.
Rights of adoptive parents and adoptees.
Most states and provinces keep adoption records secret once a child is adopted. The state or province issues a new birth certificate showing only the names of the adoptive parents. However, many adopted people want to know more about their backgrounds. Some organizations concerned about the rights of adopted people have proposed that nonidentifying information about the child be given to the adoptive parents. Such information would not reveal the identity of the birth parents but might include their medical and ethnic histories.This practice has been especially important for international adoptees. In a small number of states, adopted adults have a legal right to see their original birth certificates.
Adopted people and birth parents may decide that they want to contact one another. A number of states and provinces maintain registries to aid these people. However, adopted children may not register until they reach adulthood. In addition, both the adopted person and the birth parents must register before contact may be established.
Some adoptive parents and birth parents now agree to open adoptions. In an open adoption, the birth parent or parents meet the adoptive parents and participate in the adoption process. There are many ways open adoptions are arranged. Some private agencies allow birth parents to choose the couple or individual who will raise their child. Sometimes the birth parents give up their basic parental rights but keep the right to remain in contact with the child. The birth parents might have the right to know where the child lives and to keep informed about the child’s well-being. Other times, the birth parents only request the exchange of pictures as the child grows up.
History.
People have been adopting children for thousands of years. In ancient times, a childless person often adopted an individual to provide a legal heir. Adoptions were common among the ancient Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans. One of the first written law codes, the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (1700’s B.C.), includes a lengthy section about adoption. In the United States, the first adoption law was passed in Massachusetts in 1851.
