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According To Encyclopedia Britannica Online
Adoption is the act of establishing a person as parent to one who is not in fact or in law his child.
Adoption is so widely recognized that it can be characterized as an almost worldwide
institution with historical roots traceable into antiquity.
In most ancient civilizations and in certain later cultures as well, the purposes served by
adoption differed substantially from those emphasized in modern times. Continuity of the
male line in a particular family was the main goal of these ancient adoptions. The
importance of the male heir stemmed from political, religious, or economic considerations,
depending on the culture. The person adopted invariably was male and often adult. In
addition, the welfare of the adopter in this world and the next was the primary concern;
little attention was paid to the welfare of the one adopted.
In contrast, contemporary laws and practices aim to promote child welfare and are
regarded as one facet of the state's general program to protect its young. Although the
desire to continue a family line or to secure rights to inheritance are still among the
personal motives for adoption, society's interest now centres more on the creation of a
parent-child relationship between a married couple and a young child. This attitude
developed primarily in the period following World War I, when vast numbers of children
were orphaned, and the number of illegitimate births increased. The desirability of
adoption was further emphasized by developments in psychology and sociology that
stressed the influence on child development of a stable family life. In the latter part of the
20th century, a decline in the number of children available for legal adoption stimulated
changes in traditional restrictions on adult-child age differential, level of income, the
mother's employment outside the home, and placements across religious and ethnic lines.
Single-parent adoptions were accepted by a number of agencies.
Although adoption of adults is permitted in most countries, the legal provisions are
generally formulated in terms of child adoption, and the adopter must usually be an adult.
The laws typically provide for the consent of any older child (commonly one over 12 or 14
years), an investigation of the suitability of the prospective home according to criteria
stated in the governing statute, and a probationary period of residence in the adoptive
home.
In the matter of inheritance, laws differ considerably. As a general rule, the child may
inherit from the adopting parents and they from him. Inheritance by the child from his
natural parents, once commonplace, is increasingly prohibited, with the exception of
adoption by stepparents. In addition, there has been a tendency to broaden the child's
right to inherit from relatives of the adopting parents, although great variation appears
among laws on this point.
"To Remember Is Painful To Forget Is Impossible."
~Maureen Connelly
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