There are three general adoption categories. These are private adoption, public adoption, and international adoption.

What is a public adoption?

Public adoption is a type of adoption wherein a natural parent puts up his or her child for adoption through the use of a public agency. Alternatively, the government may also take away custody of a child for his or her natural parents, especially when the parents are incapacitated physically or mentally. Because of the circumstances that surround the public adoption process, the children here often have many unresolved emotional and mental problems. Most children in the public adoption process are also older than those available in the private adoption process; about age five and above.

What is a private adoption?

Private adoption is a type of adoption wherein a biological parent decides to put up his or her child for adoption, but wants to retain influence over who the adoptive parents are going to be. Private adoption is usually carried out through personal advertisements. Prospective parents place an ad for a child, and the natural parent can respond, making his or her choice based on the characteristics of the potential adoptive parents. Private adoption is usually resorted to by teenage mothers who do not have the capacity to support their own child. If this is the case, the adoptive parents usually will take care of all the costs connected to the birth and legal transfer of the child.

What is international adoption?

As the name implies, international adoption is a type of adoption wherein adoptive parents find a child originally from another country. This type of adoption has a strong humanitarian component, as many children outside the West lack adequate food, clothing and shelter. While a bit more expensive than the other adoption modes, more people are looking into it as time goes by.

Adoption: What is it?

When an individual takes full parental custody over a child that is not biologically theirs, that process is called adoption. During this process (or perhaps even beforehand), the natural parents of the child relinquish all their rights and responsibilities regarding the child. After the adoption process, the adoptive parents become the legal guardians of the child, empowered to deal with him or her in much the same way that they would deal with one of their own.

Why are children put up for adoption?

Children are put up for adoption for various reasons. One reason is that the parents of a child may have died or are otherwise incapacitated with regards to providing for his or her future. Another reason is that parents may simply believe that other people might be able to give more to a child than they could.

Why do people adopt?

Prospective parents engage in the adoption process for various reasons. Couples who are having problems with their fertility usually resort to adoption to be able to raise their own family. Short of more artificial methods of conception, adoption can help such couples to find a child they can shower their love on.

Many couples who already have their own children sometimes still want to add to that number. However, when old age and other biological factors make it harder for pregnancy to occur, the logical course is to adopt children. Of course, other people adopt simply because they want to do something good for the world. They adopt out of the generosity of their hearts.