Adoption

Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent other than the birth parents. Adoption begins with the severing of the parental responsibilities and rights of the biological parents and the placing of those responsibilities and rights onto the adoptive parents. After the finalization of an adoption, there is generally no legal difference between biological and adopted children in most jurisdictions.

Different jurisdictions have varying laws on adoption and post-adoption. Some practice confidential or closed adoption, strictly limiting the availability to adopted persons of information on biological families. Others have varying degrees of open adoption, which may allow for such contact. In some jurisdictions, open adoptions are not legally enforceable agreements.

Adoptions occur for many reasons. Many children are placed for adoption because their biological parents decide that they are unable to adequately care for them. 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 some cases, they abandon their children at or near an orphanage, so that they can be adopted. In some cases and in some cultures, a parent or parents prefer one gender over another and place any baby who is not the preferred gender for adoption.

Some biological parents involuntarily lose their parental rights. This may occur when children are abused, neglected or abandoned. Eventually, if the parents cannot resolve the problems that caused or contributed to the harm caused to their children, a court may terminate their parental rights and the children may then be adopted.

...More at Wikipedia

Related Links:

• Adoption.com
• National Adoption Center

Recent Hope Cube Blog Entries For Adoption