Family and Child Welfare

Family and Child Welfare 3 (3+0)

Lesson 24 : Adoption for Children

Adoption: Meaning and Purpose

Adoption is a social and a legal process where- by the parent-child relationship is established between persons not so related by birth. By this means a child born to one set of parents be­comes, legally and socially, the child of other parents and a member of another family, and assumes the same rights and duties as those that obtain between children and their biologi­cal parents.

Adoption means taking of another's child as one's n by legal process. Adop­tion enables children to be brought in other families with the e rights and obligations as those existing between children natural parents. The origin of the custom of adoption is in antiquity, and may well have been no more than the natural desire for a son as an object of affection, a protec­tion in old age, and to continue the family lineage to fulfill obligation towards forefather and to secure an heir to inherit property.

Adoption serves a variety of purposes. Its most socially approved purpose is to enable children to have permanent homes and endur­ing, constructive family ties which they would lack otherwise. Adoption is also a means by which infertile couples can become parents, or persons with children of their own can satisfy other needs and capacities for nurturance. Adoption provides a means for continuing a family name and for directing inheritances. When adoptive placement exists as an alterna­tive for parents who are unable or unwilling to care for their children, it provides a means through which they can responsibly discharge their duty for their children's long-term care. Current adoptive practice emphasizes the needs of children and the tasks in providing fit parents for children who need permanent homes.