what is adoption

Adoption is a legal and social process through which a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that persons biological or legal parent or parents. It involves the permanent transfer of all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from the biological or legal parent to the adoptive parent. Adoption is intended to effect a permanent change in status and requires societal recognition, either through legal or religious sanction. There are different types of adoption, including foster care adoption, common law adoption, independent adoption, and domestic infant adoption. The process typically involves a thorough review of the adoptive parents criminal, medical, employment, emotional, marital, and life history, and it results in the adoptive parents having the same legal rights and responsibilities as parents whose children are born to them. Once the adoption is final, the adoptive parents have all the legal rights and responsibilities of a parent-child relationship, and the new parent-child relationship is permanent and is exactly the same as that of a birth family. Adoption is a life-changing process that creates better futures and makes families, and it can happen through various means involving legal contracts to ensure its permanence.