Adoption can be defined as a process by which children are brought together with adults who are not their biological parents to form a family. Practiced informally throughout human history, adoption in the United States has evolved into a formalized...

“Family preservation services are an appropriate strategy for enabling some children to safely remain with their families while a crisis is being diffused.” —Michael Weber, National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse News,...

A HUNDRED AND FIFTY years ago, adoption as we know it did not exist. Adoption in those days usually meant one of two things: a child moved in with relatives, or a child lived with an unrelated family in exchange for work. In neither case would the...

Adoption A practice in which an adult assumes the role of parent for a child who is not his or her biological offspring. An adult assumes the role of parent for a child other than his or her own biological offspring in the process of adoption. Informal...

An adult assumes the role of parent for a child other than his or her own biological offspring in the process of adoption. Legally recognized adoptions require a court or other government agency to award permanent custody of a child (or, occasionally,...

the act of establishing a person as parent to one who is not in fact or in law his child. Adoption is so widely recognized that it can be characterized as an almost worldwide institution with historical roots traceable to antiquity. In most ancient...

A traditional form of adoption in China is called lisi, literally ‘establishing an heir’, which usually involves the naming of a child, most likely a boy, as the descendant of couples who do not have biological children or sons of their...

Act of transferring parental rights and duties to someone other than the adopted person's biological parents. The practice is ancient and occurs in all cultures. Traditionally, its goal was to continue the male line for the purposes of inheritance and...

Not recognized in talmudic law, which holds that a child’s status derives from the natural relationship to the parent and cannot be altered or artificially created; still, within Talmudic law, one may assume responsibility for a child’s...

Legal proceeding in which an adult takes, as his or her lawful child, an individual (usually a minor) who is not the adoptive parent’s natural offspring. The adopted child may lose all legal connection to the previous parent, and the adoptive...

The assumption of a parental relationship with an individual who is not one’s biological offspring. Jewish law provides for adoption; a guardian may be appointed to supervise the welfare and property of the child. If the child is not of Jewish...

Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth (or "biological") mother or father. An adoption order has the effect of severing the parental responsibilities and rights of the birth parents and...