Adoption

Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than his/her birth parents. Adoption usually results in the severing of the parental responsibilities and rights of the biological parents and the placing of those responsibilities and rights onto the adoptive parents. After the finalization of an adoption, there is no legal difference between biological and adopted children.

Different jurisdictions have varying laws on adoption and post-adoption. Some practice closed adoption, preventing further contact between the adopted person and his/her biological parents, while others have varying degrees of open adoption, which may allow such contact.

Reasons for adoption

Most children are placed for adoption as a result of the biological parents' decision that they are unable to adequately care for a child. Rarer are cases in which biological parents have lost their responsibilities and rights due to neglect or abuse. A small percentage of children who were adopted have been orphaned because of the death of their biological parents.

In some cases, parents' rights have been terminated when their outgroup culture has been deemed unfit by the controlling government. Aboriginal Peoples in Australia were affected by such policies, as were Native Americans in the United States and Canada.

Reunification

Many adopted people and biological parents who were separated by adoption have a natural desire to reunite. In countries which practise closed adoption, this desire has led to efforts to open sealed records (for example, see Adoption Reunion Registries) and efforts to establish the right of adoptees to access their sealed records (for example, see Bastard Nation).

Adoptism

Adoptism is a prejudice against adoption defined by several beliefs:

The belief that adoption is not a legitimate way to build a family
The belief that birthing children is always preferable to adopting
The belief that adoptees are defined throughout their lives by the fact of their adoption
The belief that making an adoption plan is never a preferable option for birth mothers who are incapable of caring for their children

Positive Adoption Language

In most cultures, adoptive families face adoptism. Adoptism is made evident in English speaking cultures by the prominent use of negative or inaccurate language describing adoption. To combat adoptism, adoptive families encourage positive adoption language.

Non-preferred:	Preferred:	Reason for preference:
own child or one of your own	birth child	Saying a birth child is "one of his/her own" implies that an adopted child is not.
he/she is adopted	he/she was adopted	Some adoptees believe that their adoption does not define them, but is something that happened to them. ("Adopted" becomes a participle rather than an adjective.) Others contend that "is adopted" makes adoption sound like a disability to be overcome.
give up for adoption	place for adoption or make an adoption plan	"Give up" implies a lack of value. The preferred terms are more emotionally neutral.
real mother/father	birth mother/father or biological mother/father	The use of the term "real" implies that the adoptive family is artificial, and is not as descriptive.
their adopted child	their child	The use of the adjective 'adopted' signals that the relationship is qualitatively different than that of parents to birth children.

See also: