A legal procedure in which a civil court makes an order giving parental rights and duties over a child to someone other than the natural parents. On adoption, the child becomes the legal child of his or her adoptive parents, and the same as any natural child. Natural parents often lose all rights in the child and in his or her property. In England and Wales, since the Children Act of 1989, a court may make a contact order as well as or instead of an adoption order. Contact by the natural parents after adoption is a controversial issue. In England and Wales, a child born to a surrogate mother must be adopted by the commissioning parents. Adoption law is currently under review in the UK, and it is likely that major reform will take place in the forseeable future, featuring a shift towards a more open system of adoption and the need to dovetail existing laws within the Children Act. Since 1975, adopted people over the age of 18 have been able to obtain their original birth certificate, and since 1989, they and their natural parents have been able to contact each other through the Adoption Contact Register, if this is what they all want.
For the Adopt-a-user project in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Adopt-a-User| Family law |
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Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents.
Different jurisdictions have varying laws on adoption and post-adoption.
Reasons for adoption
Adoptions occur for many reasons. In some countries, where single motherhood is considered scandalous or unacceptable, some women in this situation make an adoption plan for their infants, whereas others may come under financial, societal or family pressure to choose adoption. In many Western countries, step-parent adoption is the most common form of adoption as people choose to cement a new family following divorce or death of one parent.
In some countries, applications must be made to a state agency or agencies responsible for adoption.
Adoption by same-sex couples
Certain jurisdictions prohibit homosexuals and bisexuals from adopting children, or have a policy of providing heterosexual adopters with adoptees before applications made by homosexuals are considered.
The issue of adoption by homosexuals and bisexuals is tied in with the debate on homosexuality.
Adoption from same-sex civil unions or marriages are allowed in Australia (regions: Western Australia, Tasmania, ACT), the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Spain and in the USA (regions: California, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, District of Columbia, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin).
see: Adoption by same-sex couplesCost of adoption
Adoption costs and assistance vary between countries.
Where there are charges for adoption there is often controversy, even in the case of non-profit agencies.
Adoption numbers
The number of children available for adoption inside Western nations has dropped considerably in recent years, in part because of lower fertility rates, legalization of abortions, and the increased acceptance of single parenthood. In the USA, the number of children awaiting adoption has dropped from 132,000 to 118,000 during the period 2000 to 2004 USA Adoption Chart
This is a list of adoptions recorded (alphabetical, by country) in recent years.
| Country | Adoptions | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 443 (2003-2004) | Includes known relative adoptions |
| Ireland | 263 (2003) | 92 non-family adoptions; |
| Norway | 791 (2004) | 124 of these were national adoptions, including step-child adoptions. |
| United Kingdom | 3,800 (England) (2005) | Children adopted from care only |
| United States | approx 127,000 (2001) | |
| Iceland | between 20-35 year |
Issues surrounding adoption
Family heritage
Preserving an adopted child's heritage has become an issue in adoption.
For all adopted people in adoptions where information about the family of origin is withheld, secrecy may disrupt the process of forming an identity.
Adoption may be problematic for some birthparents.
Adoption may also pose questions for adoptive parents.
Coerced adoption
Women pregnant in circumstances their cultures deem to be undesirable (such as out of wedlock) have faced varying degrees of societal and/or legal pressure to place their children for adoption.
Abuse and neglect
Some studies indicate that parental neglect, carelessness, and abuse is dramatically higher for adopted children, the majority of whom are adopted through the child welfare system in the UK, Canada, and the U.S. As such, adopted children are much more likely to die prematurely, on the whole, than those raised in birth families. (The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, 1995, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-024548-0, chapter 7, claims 65 times increase in risk of death) (For additional citations see: Google Answers: Research on Child Abuse of Adopted Children)
The National Adoption Center found that 52% of adoptable children (meaning those children in U.S. foster care freed for adoption) had symptoms of attachment disorder.
Adoption in schools
Adoption rights organizations have long focused on issues such as the adoptee’s right to access his or her birth information, including names of birth parents and birth family medical information.
Adoption in the media
Adoption experts complain that too much of the media coverage of adoption goes to one extreme or the other. Much of the coverage of adoption presents stories of failed adoptions and troubled children, adoption scandals, even "baby buying";
Adoption in the wake of disasters
After disasters like hurricanes, tsunamis, and wars there is often an outpouring of offers from adults who want to give homes to the children left in need. While adoption is often the best way to provide stable, loving families for children in need, new research suggests that adoption in the immediate aftermath of trauma or upheaval may not be the best option.
Adoption reform
Two important influences on the reform of voluntary infant adoption have been Nancy Verrier and Florence Fischer. "
Proponents of adoption reform argue for increased open adoption rather than closed adoption, with the latter only being used where absolutely necessary.
Reunion
Some adopted people and birth-parents who were separated by adoption have a desire to reunite.
In the United Kingdom, adoption law has been amended to allow for open adoptions, the right to access one's records, and a state-run adoption reunion registry has been established, while in Ireland, a National Adoption Contact Preference Register was launched by the state Adoption Board in 2005. This Register, set up in consultation with organisations representing adopted people, natural parents and adoptive parents, is unusual in that it was widely advertised on both radio and print media, and an explanatory leaflet, with contact details for the Adoption Board and the voluntary support organisations, was delivered to every household in the country.
Adoptism
Adoptism is a prejudice against adoption defined by several beliefs:
The belief that adoption is not a legitimate way to build a family The belief that birthing children is always preferable to adopting The belief that making an adoption plan is never a preferable option for birth mothers who are unable or choose not to raise their childrenSometimes, adoptism is limited to certain kinds of adoption, such as adoption by gays and lesbians, or adoption of children of color by Caucasians.
Adoption.com library definition of Adoptism:
The language of adoption
The language used in adoption is changing and evolving. It became a controversial issue in the 1980's, when adoption workers invented a new way to describe adoption, called "Positive Adoption Language". However, the traditional language of adoption, "Honest Adoption Language," is still most widely used. They feel PAL has become a way to present adoption in the friendliest light possible, in order to obtain even more infants for adoption;
Honest Adoption Language (HAL) The reasons for its use: In most cultures, particularly Judaeo-Christian ones, the adoption of a child has not changed the identities of its mother and father; Many of those directly affected by adoption loss believe these terms more accurately reflect important but hidden and/or ignored realities of adoption.
Terms used in Positive Adoption Language:
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Non-preferred: |
Preferred: |
Reasons stated for preference: |
|---|---|---|
|
your own child |
birth child; biological child |
Saying a birth child is your own child or one of your own children implies that an adopted child is not. |
|
child is adopted |
child was adopted |
Some adoptees believe that their adoption is not their identity, but is an event that happened to them. |
|
give up for adoption |
place for adoption or make an adoption plan |
"Give up" implies a lack of value. |
|
real mother/father/parent |
birth, biological or genetic |
The use of the term "real" implies that the adoptive family is artificial, and is not as descriptive. |
|
your adopted child |
your child |
The use of the adjective 'adopted' signals that the relationship is qualitatively different from that of parents to birth children. |
Terms used in Honest Adoption Language:
|
Common Term: |
Honest Term: |
Reasons stated for preference: |
|---|---|---|
|
birth mother |
original, or natural mother or parent OR mother OR parent. |
The term "birth mother" limits a woman's role in her child's life to the birth, casting her in the role of incubator or breeder. The "b" word can been seen as a dehumanizing term and may
imply that the relationship between mother and child is severed permanently, which is no longer a given, especially since the advent of open adoption. |
|
give up for adoption |
surrender for adoption |
"Give up" implies a lack of value, whereas the truth is that most women wish to raise their own child. HAL acknowledges that past adoption practice facilitated the taking of children for adoption, often against their mother's expressed wishes. |
|
real mother/father/parent |
mother/father/parent |
Possible modifiers for the parental role include: real, legal, adoptive, first, original, natural. |
|
adopted child |
adopted person or person who was adopted |
The use of the adjective 'adopted' signals that the relationship is qualitatively different from that of parents to birth children. |
National variations in adoption
Adoption need not always entail assuming the title of "mother" and/or "father" to an orphaned child.
In Korean culture, adoption almost always occurs when another family member (sibling or cousin) gives a male child to the first-born male heir of the family.
On the other hand, in many African cultures, children are regularly exchanged among families for the purpose of adoption.
There is no uniform adoption law in India.
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