Adoption.com reports that about 120,000 children are adopted by families in the United States every year. About half of them are adopted by blood relatives like grandparents, while the others are adopted by unrelated couples or single parents. Families adopt kids for a variety of reasons, and adoptions can take many different forms. However, the legal definition of an adopted child remains the same.
Definition
Adoption is defined as the legal process of becoming a child's parent. The biological mother and father must agree to give up their rights. A court will then confer parenthood on the adoptive couple. Some states also allow a single person to adopt a child. The youngster is then considered to be on the same legal level as a natural child, with all the same inheritance rights. A kid can be adopted by strangers or by someone who is blood related or who has some pre-existing relationship with him.
Reasons
Kids are often adopted by couples who cannot have children due to infertility. A youngster might also be adopted by a step-parent or another family member when the birth parents are unable to care for her. Gay and lesbian couples sometimes choose to adopt rather than work out a way to have biological children. Some people adopt special-needs children, even if they are able to have kids on their own, to provide them with a traditional home rather than being raised in an institution. Adoption.com states that 25 percent of special needs adoptions are done by single parents.
Types
Some adoptions are arranged through an agency that screens prospective couples and matches them up with birth mothers. The process can take several years as the prospective parents go through psychological screenings and home studies, then wait for an available child. Some adoptions are handled privately, often through an attorney specializing in the adoption process. These adoptions generally move more quickly than working through an agency. Families sometimes adopt foster children who have already been living in their homes.
Considerations
Some families tell their children they have been adopted, while others do not reveal this information. Parents who reveal the truth may do so as soon as the child is old enough to understand or may wait until the teen or adult years. The type of adoption may influence when the child is told. For example, in some adoptions, a youngster has no contact with her biological parents. In others, there is an open arrangement in which the biological mother, and sometimes the father, have ongoing contact. They may have limited contact or play a major role, depending on the agreement with the adoptive parents.
Location
Children may be adopted by parents of another race or from another country. Many couples adopt youngsters from countries like Russia or China where there are more available children than in the United States. The parents generally must be prepared to tell their child he is adopted when he is old enough to notice if there is a distinct racial or ethnic difference.
