Adoption

Adoption is a legal act relating to childcare and the rearing of children, in which the parental rights and responsibilities of a child's natural parent(s) are terminated or set aside, and they are instead granted to an adoptive parent or parents. Usually such an order is granted by a court (or a similar body or office that may have been created to specifically oversee adoption matters in a particular jurisdiction). In previous years, adoption was often seen as being a "once-off" event - once the adoption was granted, that was the end of the process. In recent years, however, thinking has changed, and adoption is now recognised as being an ongoing, possibly lifelong and evolving process for all those involved.

Note: Adoption laws can vary greatly between different jurisdictions. This article is intended to be a general introduction to the subject only.

Types of adoption

Various types of adoption exist. They are not mutually exclusive - a single adoption may be of several different types, and some adoptions may change over the lifetime of those involved. The various types are:

Open

An adoption in which the child (and/or his or her adoptive parent(s)) know the identity of the child's natural parent(s), and vice versa, and where provision is made for ongoing contact, possibly including unsupervised face-to-face meetings.

Semi-open

An adoption in which the natural and adoptive parent(s) may swap information such as general and medical information, possibly on an ongoing basis. Contact might be direct, or may be through an intermediary, such as an adoption agency.

Closed

An adoption in which there is no ongoing contact between the natural and adoptive families. In addition, the adoptive family may not know the identity of the natural family, or may have been given only general background and medical information.

Domestic

An adoption in which the child is adopted in his or her country of origin.

International

An adoption in which the child is adopted by parent(s) from a different country to where the child was born.

Transracial

An adoption in which the child is adopted by parent(s) of a different ethnic origin to that of its natural family.

Intra-family

An adoption in which the child is adopted by one or more natural relatives - for example, a child's grandparents may adopt if the child was orphaned. The term may also be used to describe step parent adoptions - e.g., where a mother's new partner may adopt the child in order to be accorded parental rights.

Foster-care

An adoption which takes place after a child has already spent some time with the adoptive parent(s) in a fostercare arrangement.

Illegal adoption

An adoption where no legal adoption order has been granted. A de facto adoption is one such type, where the child's birth is illegally registered as being to the adoptive parent(s).

History

The adoption of children is an ancient practice, common in ancient Rome, Greece and referenced in the Bible. Modern forms of legal adoption, as we know it today, began to be introduced in the western world in the middle part of the nineteenth century. Adoption then was seen as an answer to, one the one hand, the problem of infertility experienced by some married couples; and, on the other hand, the problem of children conceived outside of wedlock. At the time in most societies, great stigma was attached to both the woman who conceived a child outside of marriage, and to the resultant offspring. Adoption therefore appeared to present an elegant solution to both "problems".

Prior to the introduction of legal adoption, both formal and informal fostercare arrangements were commonplace, as was the practice of informal adoption - where a child would be raised as if it was the child of adoptive parents, but without any legal arrangement in place. Children not accommodated by either option were often brought up in children's homes or orphanages.

The lack of a legal framework to give validity to informal adoption arrangements was perceived as a problem by many. Uncertainty over such issues as inheritance rights and custody, where a natural mother sought the return of her child, gave rise to groups who lobbied for the introduction of a formal, legalised system of adoption. Legal adoption was introduced to Massachusetts in 1851,England and Wales in 1926, Scotland in 1930,, Australia in 1935,, and Ireland in 1952.

Adoption laws in most jurisdictions, when introduced, were "open", in that the adoption records were not sealed and could be accessed by any party to the adoption. In a minority of cases (e.g., Scotland), this remained the case, but in most western jurisdictions, legislation was introduced in the 1940s and 1950s that was designed to make adoption more secretive. Pressure to change to closed adoptions came from various sources - mainly social workers in private adoption agencies, who wanted more control over the process, but also from some adoptive parents' lobbies, due to concerns about the natural parents perhaps coming back, seeking the children they had placed. By the middle of the twentieth century, most jurisdictions in the west had changed to fully closed adoption systems.

Despite the altruistic reasons for the introduction of legalised adoption, it was open to abuse. Commercial opportunities were seen and a market soon developed, resulting in some places in what came to be known as "baby farming", and coercion of mothers to place their children for adoption. Laws prohibiting black market adoptions were introduced (such as in New York in 1949), but often proved to have little effect.

The latter part of the twentieth century saw three new major issues emerge. The first was the advent of international adoption, which really began to increase post-World War II. As social mores changed and as single parenthood became acceptable (with, in some cases, financial assistance becoming available for the first time), the numbers of children available for adoption began to decline. This coincided with an increase in infertility rates in the west. However, the demand for adoptable children had not abated. The solution was international adoption. In the United States, legislation was passed in 1955 to allow the adoption of Korean orphans. In the nine-year period from 1953 to 1962, Americans adopted 15,000 foreign children. Not all international adoptions were above board, however. An illegal scheme saw over 4,000 Irish children adopted to the United States, Australia, and elsewhere, from the 1950s to the 1970s., concerns over corruption and malpractice in international adoption continue to the present day.

The other two inter-related issues were that of open records and open adoptions. In 1971, Florence Fisher founded the Adoptees’ Liberty Movement Association (ALMA), which had as its aim "“to abolish the existing practice of sealed records” and advocate for “opening of records to any adopted person over eighteen who wants, for any reason, to see them.” Most adoption records had been open until around 1945, but were subsequently closed. The campaign to open records in the United States was resisted by some adoption agencies and organisations such as the National Council for Adoption. Although some jurisdictions such as England and Wales did begin to open records in the 1970s, ALMA's campaign in the United States bore little fruit, even though they were joined by other organisations such as Concerned United Birthparents (cUB). This was to change when, in 1996, a more militant campaign group, Bastard Nation (BN), was founded. BN refused to engage in compromise, rejecting, for example, mutual contact reunion registries, in favour of full and unconditional access to adoption records. A concerted campaign led to the passage of Ballot Measure 58 in Oregon, in 1998, which unsealed the adoption records that had been closed in 1957. Following unsuccessful challenges, the law came into effect in 2000.