Editing Adoption (section)

===Antiquity===
====Adoption for the well-born====
[[File:Traianus Glyptothek Munich 336.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Trajan]] became emperor of Rome through adoption by the previous emperor [[Nerva]], and was in turn succeeded by his own adopted son [[Hadrian]]. Adoption was a customary practice of the Roman Empire that enabled peaceful transitions of power.]]
While the modern form of adoption emerged in the United States, forms of the practice appeared throughout history. The [[Code of Hammurabi]], for example, details the rights of adopters and the responsibilities of adopted individuals at length. The practice of [[adoption in ancient Rome]] is well-documented in the [[Codex Justinianus]].<ref>''[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.asp Code of Hammurabi]''</ref><ref>''[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/535institutes.html Codex Justinianus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814182413/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/535institutes.html |date=14 August 2014 }}''</ref>

Markedly different from the modern period, ancient adoption practices put emphasis on the political and economic interests of the adopter,<ref name="The Psychology of Adoption">Brodzinsky and Schecter (editors), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=7WQp2uEnogoC The Psychology of Adoption]'', 1990, page 274</ref> providing a legal tool that strengthened political ties between wealthy families and created male heirs to manage estates.<ref>H. David Kirk, Adoptive Kinship: A Modern Institution in Need of Reform, 1985, page xiv.</ref><ref name="Mary Kathleen Benet 1976, page 14">{{cite book|first=Mary Kathleen|last= Benet|title= The Politics of Adoption|date= 1976| page= 14|isbn = 9780029025000|publisher = Free Press}}</ref> The use of adoption by the aristocracy is well-documented: many of Rome's emperors were adopted sons.<ref name="Mary Kathleen Benet 1976, page 14"/> [[Adrogation]] was a kind of Roman adoption in which the person adopted consented to be adopted by another. Some adoptions were even posthumous.

Infant adoption during Antiquity appears rare.<ref name="The Psychology of Adoption"/><ref>John Boswell, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=MR1D29F0yyQC The Kindness of Strangers]'', 1998, page 74, 115</ref> [[child abandonment|Abandoned children]] were often picked up for slavery<ref>John Boswell, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=MR1D29F0yyQC The Kindness of Strangers]'', 1998, page 62-63</ref> and composed a significant percentage of the Empire's slave supply.<ref>{{cite book|first=W.|last= Scheidel|chapter= The Roman Slave Supply|editor1-first = Keith|editor1-last= Bradley| editor2-first= Paul|editor2-last= Cartledge|title=The Cambridge World History of Slavery|date= 28 September 2011|pages= 287–310|doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521840668.016|publisher = Cambridge University Press |isbn= 978-0-511-78034-9}}</ref><ref>John Boswell, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=MR1D29F0yyQC The Kindness of Strangers]'', 1998, page 3</ref> Roman legal records indicate that foundlings were occasionally taken in by families and raised as a son or daughter. Although not normally adopted under Roman Law, the children, called ''[[alumni]]'', were reared in an arrangement similar to guardianship, being considered the property of the father who abandoned them.<ref>John Boswell, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=MR1D29F0yyQC The Kindness of Strangers]'', 1998, page 53-95</ref>

Other ancient civilizations, notably [[History of India|India]] and [[History of China|China]], used some form of adoption as well. Evidence suggests the goal of this practice was to ensure the continuity of cultural and religious practices; in contrast to the Western idea of extending family lines. In ancient India, adoption was conducted in a limited and highly ritualistic form, so that an adopter might have the necessary [[funerary rites]] performed by a son.<ref>Vinita Bhargava, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=9z0GsuuhLDUC Adoption in India: Policies and Experiences]'', 2005, page 45</ref> China had a similar idea of adoption with males adopted solely to perform the duties of [[Ancestor worship in China|ancestor worship]].<ref>W. Menski, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=s7ohU5v8Lu8C Comparative Law in a Global Context: The Legal Systems of Asia and Africa]'', 2000</ref>

The practice of adopting the children of family members and close friends was common among the [[Polynesian culture|cultures of Polynesia]] including [[Ancient Hawaii|Hawaii]] where the custom was referred to as ''[[hānai]]''.