Editing Adoption (section)

==Contemporary adoption==

===Forms of adoption===
Contemporary adoption practices can be open or closed.
* [[Open adoption]] allows identifying information to be communicated between adoptive and biological parents and, perhaps, interaction between kin and the adopted person.<ref>[https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/f_openadopt.pdf#page=2&view=What%20Is%20Open%20Adoption? Openness in Adoption: Building Relationships Between Adoptive and Birth Families] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727212749/https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/f_openadopt.pdf#page=2&view=What%20Is%20Open%20Adoption? |date=27 July 2020 }}, Child Welfare Information Gateway, January 2013, Retrieved 1 January 2019</ref> Open adoption can be an informal arrangement subject to termination by adoptive parents who have sole custody over the child. In some jurisdictions, the biological and adoptive parents may enter into a legally enforceable and binding agreement concerning visitation, exchange of information, or other interaction regarding the child.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Postadoption Contact Agreements Between Birth and Adoptive Families |year=2005 |publisher=U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau |url=http://childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/cooperative.cfm |access-date=10 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513140059/http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/cooperative.cfm |archive-date=13 May 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> As of February 2009, 24 U.S. states allowed legally enforceable open adoption contract agreements to be included in the adoption finalization.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Postadoption Contact Agreements Between Birth and Adoptive Families: Summary of State Laws |year=2009 |publisher=U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau |url=http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/cooperativeall.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/cooperativeall.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* The practice of [[closed adoption]] (also called confidential or secret adoption),<ref>See, e.g., {{cite journal |last1=Seymore |first1=Malinda L. |title=Openness in International Adoption |journal=Texas A&M Law Scholarship |date=March 2015}}</ref> which has not been the norm for most of modern history,<ref>Ellen Herman, Adoption History Project, University of Oregon, [http://www.uoregon.edu/~adoption/topics/confidentiality.htm Topic: Confidentiality] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403161936/http://www.uoregon.edu/~adoption/topics/confidentiality.htm |date=3 April 2009 }}</ref> seals all identifying information, maintaining it as secret and preventing disclosure of the adoptive parents', biological kin's, and adoptees' identities. Nevertheless, closed adoption may allow the transmittal of non-identifying information such as medical history and religious and ethnic background.<ref>[http://www.bethany.org/A55798/bethanyWWW.nsf/0/BA94676902EC1CDE85256CE10073B4E8 Bethany Christian Services] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070407131342/http://www.bethany.org/A55798/bethanyWWW.nsf/0/BA94676902EC1CDE85256CE10073B4E8 |date=7 April 2007 }}</ref> Today, as a result of [[safe haven law]]s passed by some U.S. states, secret adoption is seeing renewed influence. In so-called "safe-haven" states, infants can be left anonymously at hospitals, fire departments, or police stations within a few days of birth, a practice criticized by some adoption advocacy organizations as being retrograde and dangerous.<ref>[http://www.stopdumpingkids.com SECA Organization] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20090210060146/http://www.stopdumpingkids.com/ |date=10 February 2009 }}</ref>

===How adoptions originate===
[[File:JosephineBaker1964NL.jpg|thumb|[[Josephine Baker]] adopted 10 children in the 1960s. In this photo they are on a tour of [[Amsterdam]] in 1964.]] 
[[File:Entrance to the New York Foundling Home.jpg|thumb|right|The [[The New York Foundling|New York Foundling Home]] is among North America's oldest adoption agencies.]]

Adoptions can occur between related or unrelated individuals. Historically, most adoptions occurred within a family. The most recent data from the U.S. indicates that about half of adoptions are currently between related individuals.<ref>National Council For Adoption, Adoption Factbook, 2000, Table 11</ref> A common example of this is a "step-parent adoption", where the new partner of a parent legally adopts a child from the parent's previous relationship. Intra-family adoption can also occur through surrender, as a result of parental death, or when the child cannot otherwise be cared for and a family member agrees to take over.

Adoption is not always a voluntary process. In some countries, for example in the U.K., one of the main origins of children being placed for adoption is that they have been removed from the birth home, often by a government body such as the local authority. There are a number of reasons why children are removed including abuse and neglect, which can have a lasting impact on the adoptee. Social workers in many cases will be notified of a safeguarding concern in relation to a child and will make enquiries into the child's well-being. Social workers will often seek means of keeping a child together with the birth family, for example, by providing additional support to the family before considering removal of a child. A court of law will often then make decisions regarding the child's future, for example, whether they can return to the birth family, enter into [[foster care]] or be adopted.

[[Infertility]] is the main reason parents seek to adopt children they are not related to. One study shows this accounted for 80% of unrelated infant adoptions and half of adoptions through foster care.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1007/BF01876644 | volume=13 | issue=2 | title=Preparation, support, and satisfaction of adoptive families in agency and independent adoptions | year=1996 | journal=Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal | pages=157–183 | last1 = Berry | first1 = Marianne | last2 = Barth | first2 = Richard P. | last3 = Needell | first3 = Barbara| s2cid=144559063 }}</ref> Estimates suggest that 11–24% of Americans who cannot conceive or carry to term attempt to build a family through adoption, and that the overall rate of never-married American women who adopt is about 1.4%.<ref>{{cite journal |url-status=live |first1=William D. |last1=Mosher |first2=Christine A. |last2=Bachrach |url=http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2800496.html |title=Understanding U.S. Fertility: Continuity and Change in the National Survey of Family Growth, 1988–1995 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024144513/http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2800496.html |archive-date=24 October 2008 |journal=Family Planning Perspectives |volume =28 |issue=1 |date=January–February 1996 |pages=4–12 |publisher=Guttmacher Institute |doi=10.2307/2135956 |jstor=2135956 |pmid=8822409 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_23/sr23_027.pdf |publisher=U.S. Center for Disease Control |title=Adoption Experiences of Women and Men and Demand for Children to Adopt by Women 18–44 Years of Age in the United States, 2002 |page=19 |date=August 2008 |journal=Vital Health Stat |volume=23 |issue=27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201064127/https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_23/sr23_027.pdf |archive-date= Dec 1, 2023 }}</ref> Other reasons people adopt are numerous although not well documented. These may include wanting to cement a new family following divorce or death of one parent, compassion motivated by religious or philosophical conviction, to avoid contributing to [[Human overpopulation|overpopulation]] out of the belief that it is more responsible to care for otherwise parent-less children than to reproduce, to ensure that inheritable diseases (e.g., [[Tay–Sachs disease]]) are not passed on, and health concerns relating to pregnancy and childbirth. Although there are a range of reasons, the most recent study of experiences of women who adopt suggests they are most likely to be 40–44 years of age, to be currently married, to have impaired fertility, and to be childless.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_23/sr23_027.pdf |publisher=U.S. Center for Disease Control |title=Adoption Experiences of Women and Men and Demand for Children to Adopt by Women 18–44 Years of Age in the United States, 2002 |page=8 |date=August 2008 |journal=Vital Health Stat |volume=23 |issue=27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201064127/https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_23/sr23_027.pdf |archive-date= Dec 1, 2023 }}</ref>

Unrelated adoptions may occur through the following mechanisms:
* Private [[domestic adoption]]s: under this arrangement, not-for-profit organizations and for-profit organizations act as intermediaries, bringing together prospective adoptive parents with families who want to place a child, all parties being residents of the same country. Alternatively, prospective adoptive parents sometimes avoid intermediaries and connect with women directly, often with a written contract; this is not permitted in some jurisdictions. Private domestic adoption accounts for a significant portion of all adoptions; in the United States, for example, nearly 45% of adoptions are estimated to have been arranged privately.<ref name="childwelfare.gov"/>
[[File:"Надія і житло для дітей" в Україні.jpg|thumb|Children associated with ''Hope and Homes for Children'', a foster care program in [[Ukraine]]]]
* [[Foster care adoption]]: this is a type of domestic adoption where a child is initially placed in public care. Many times the foster parents take on the adoption when the children become legally free. Its importance as an avenue for adoption varies by country. Of the 127,500 adoptions in the U.S. in 2000,<ref name="childwelfare.gov">[https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/s_adopted.pdf#page=6&view=Findings:%20Children%20Adopted US Child Welfare Information Gateway: "How Many Children Were Adopted in 2000 and 2001?"]</ref> about 51,000 or 40% were through the foster care system.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/trends.htm |title=AFCARS Report #1 – Current Estimates as of January 1999 |website=Children's Bureau |publisher=Administration for Children and Families |access-date=2006-07-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926180012/http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report1/ar0199.htm |archive-date=26 September 2006}}</ref>
* [[International adoption]]: this involves the placing of a child for adoption outside that child's country of birth. This can occur through public or private agencies. In some countries, such as Sweden, these adoptions account for the majority of cases (see above table). The U.S. example, however, indicates there is wide variation by country since adoptions from abroad account for less than 15% of its cases.<ref name="childwelfare.gov"/> More than 60,000 Russian children have been adopted in the United States since 1992,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nemtsova |first=Anna |title=Who Will Adopt the Orphans? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/advertisers/russia/articles/society/20090624/who_will_adopt_the_orphans.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326024822/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/advertisers/russia/articles/society/20090624/who_will_adopt_the_orphans.html |archive-date=Mar 26, 2023 |website=Russia Now |publisher=The Washington Post}}</ref> and a similar number of Chinese children were adopted from 1995 to 2005.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/04/03/adopted_chinese_orphans_often_have_special_needs/ |title=Adopted Chinese orphans often have special needs |website=The Boston Globe |date=3 April 2010 |first1= David |last1=Crary |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305032919/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/04/03/adopted_chinese_orphans_often_have_special_needs/ |archive-date= Mar 5, 2016 }}</ref> The laws of different countries vary in their willingness to allow international adoptions. Recognizing the difficulties and challenges associated with international adoption, and in an effort to protect those involved from the corruption and exploitation which sometimes accompanies it, the [[Hague Conference on Private International Law]] developed the [[Hague Adoption Convention]], which came into force on 1 May 1995 and has been ratified by 105 countries as of February 2024.<ref>{{cite web |website=HCCH |title=33: Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption |url=http://hcch.e-vision.nl/index_en.php?act=conventions.status&cid=69 |access-date=Feb 5, 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230829150528/https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/?cid=69 |archive-date= Aug 29, 2023 }}</ref>
* [[Embryo donation|Embryo adoption]]: based on the donation of embryos remaining after one couple's [[in vitro fertilization]] treatments have been completed; embryos are given to another individual or couple, followed by the placement of those embryos into the recipient woman's uterus, to facilitate pregnancy and childbirth. In the United States, embryo adoption is governed by property law rather than by the court systems, in contrast to traditional adoption.
* Common law adoption: this is an adoption that has not been recognized beforehand by the [[court of law|courts]], but where a parent, without resorting to any formal [[legal process]], leaves his or her children with a friend or relative for an extended period of time.<ref name="GVB">''The International Law on the Rights of the Child'' (book), Geraldine Van Bueren, 1998, p.95, {{ISBN|90-411-1091-7}}, web: [https://books.google.com/books?id=xEAmkaqn8lMC&pg=PA95 Books-Google-81MC].</ref><ref name="JG">''The best interests of the child: the least detrimental'' ''alternative'' (book), Joseph Goldstein, 1996, p.16, web: [https://books.google.com/books?id=cTLomwSIaHkC&pg=PA16 Books-Google-HkC].
</ref> At the end of a designated term of (voluntary) [[co-habitation]], as witnessed by the public, the adoption is then considered binding, in some courts of law, even though not initially sanctioned by the court. The particular terms of a common-law adoption are defined by each legal [[jurisdiction]]. For example, the U.S. state of California recognizes [[common law]] relationships after co-habitation of 2 years. The practice is called "private fostering" in Britain.<ref name="SEC">[http://www.privatefostering.org.uk/ Somebody Else's Child]</ref>

===Disruption and dissolution===
Although adoption is often described as forming a "forever" family, the relationship can be ended at any time. The legal termination of an adoption is called disruption. In U.S. terminology, adoptions are ''disrupted'' if they are ended before being finalized, and they are [[dissolution (law)|''dissolved'']] if the relationship is ended afterwards. It may also be called a ''failed adoption''. After legal finalization, the disruption process is usually initiated by adoptive parents via a [[court]] [[petition]] and is analogous to [[Divorce|divorce proceedings]]. It is a legal avenue unique to adoptive parents as disruption/dissolution does not apply to biological kin, although biological family members are sometimes [[Disownment|disowned]] or [[Child abandonment|abandoned]].<ref name="Adoption Disruption and Dissolution">U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Child Welfare Information Gateway, [http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/s_disrup.pdf Adoption Disruption and Dissolution] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103165211/http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/s_disrup.pdf |date=3 January 2009 }}, December 2004</ref>

Ad hoc studies performed in the U.S., however, suggest that between 10 and 25 percent of adoptions through the child welfare system (e.g., excluding babies adopted from other countries or step-parents adopting their stepchildren) disrupt before they are legally finalized and from 1 to 10 percent are dissolved after legal finalization. The wide range of values reflects the paucity of information on the subject and demographic factors such as age; it is known that teenagers are more prone to having their adoptions disrupted than young children.<ref name="Adoption Disruption and Dissolution"/>

===Adoption by same-sex couples===
{{main|Same-sex adoption}}
[[File:World same-sex adoption laws.svg|right|thumb|300px|Legal status of adoption by same-sex couples around the world:
{{legend|#800080|Joint adoption allowed}}
{{legend|#ba75ff|[[Second-parent adoption]] allowed}}
{{legend|#CCCCCC|No laws allowing adoption by same-sex couples and no same-sex marriage}}
{{legend|#E4D69D|Same-sex marriage but adoption by married same-sex couples not allowed}}
]]
Joint adoption by same-sex couples is legal in 34 countries as of March 2022, and additionally in various sub-national territories. Adoption may also be in the form of stepchild adoption (6 additional countries), wherein one partner in a same-sex couple adopts the child of the other. Most countries that have same-sex marriage allow joint adoption by those couples, the exceptions being Ecuador (no adoption by same-sex couples), Taiwan (stepchild adoption only) and Mexico (in one third of states with same-sex marriage). A few countries with civil unions or lesser marriage rights nonetheless allow step- or joint adoption. In 2019, the American Community Survey (ACS) enhanced its approach to measuring same-sex couple households, explicitly distinguishing between same-sex and opposite-sex spouses or partners.

Same-sex parents, according to the ACS in 2022, were predominantly female. Notably, 26.8% of female same-sex couple households had children under 18, in contrast to 8.2% of male same-sex couple households. In homes with children, female same-sex couples were almost 12% more likely to have biological children compared with male same-sex couples; however, male same-sex couples were 18.5% more likely to adopt and were less likely to have stepchildren.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hemez |first1=Paul |title=Spouses in Opposite-Sex and Same-Sex Married Couples and Their Households: 2022 |url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/acsbr-020.pdf |website=data.census.gov. |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date=4 March 2025}}</ref>