Family relationships can be created by law as well as by birth. Adoption is the legal process that establishes a parent-child relationship between individuals who are not biologically related in that way, giving the adoptive parent full parental rights and duties.

Courts oversee adoptions to protect the child’s best interests. The process typically includes home studies, consent from existing legal parents or termination of their rights, and a final hearing. Once finalized, the adoptive parents assume permanent responsibility and the child gains inheritance and other rights as if born to them.

Adoption may be domestic or intercountry, agency-based or private, and can involve stepparents or relatives. Records may be sealed or open depending on jurisdiction and the parties’ choices. The decree of adoption permanently reshapes the child’s legal family.

• Legal creation of a parent-child relationship
• Requires court approval and best-interests review
• Transfers full parental rights and responsibilities
• May be domestic, intercountry, or stepparent