Adoption in the United States
adoption law in the U.S
In the United States, adoption is the process of creating a legal parent–child relationship between a child and a parent who is not the child's parent by birth or a genetic parent.
Most adoptions in the US are adoptions by a step-parent. The second most common type is a foster care adoption. In those cases, the child is unable to live with the birth family, and the government is overseeing the care and adoption of the child. International adoptions involve the adoption of a child who was born outside the United States. A private adoption is an adoption that was independently arranged without the involvement of a government agency.
Between five and seven million Americans are adoptees. About 150,000 adoptions happen each year, including about 50,000 foster-care adoptions.
While most adoptions involve minor children (under the age of 18), adult adoption is also possible.
Types
Adoptions in the United States may be either domestic or from another country.
The public source identifies “Adoption in the United States” as adoption law in the U.S. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Adoption, United and States.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q366299. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Adoption in the United States” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.