legal adoption
Court-approved parenthood
Legal adoption is the formal process by which a person becomes the lawful parent of a child who is not their biological offspring.
The court terminates the birth parents' rights and transfers all parental responsibilities to the adoptive parents.
Once finalized, the adopted child has the same legal status as a biological child—including inheritance rights and the adoptive parents' surname on a new birth certificate.
They completed the legal adoption after two years of fostering.
- custodyProtective care or control
- guardianProtective caretaker of another
- orphanChild whose parents died
- fosterEncourage development of
- waiting childMinor available for adoption
birthmother · placement · agency · paperwork · finalized · court · family · child · parents · home · waiting · chosen · bonding · permanency · reunification · petition · decree · consent
- adoptionbirth parents, birth parent, birth mother, home study
legal adoptionfoster care
Supervised substitute parenting
fostering · kinship care · respite care · institutional care · temporary placement
legal adoptionnatural childbirth
Delivery without medical intervention
giving birth · surrogacy · conception · artificial insemination
legal adoptionabandonment
Act of leaving permanently
child abandonment · relinquishment · surrender · orphaning · child neglect
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