Adopt

Adopt is a verb with several related senses. In its primary sense, to adopt means to legally take another person's child and raise them as one's own, creating a permanent parent-child relationship. This typically requires a formal legal process in which parental rights are terminated or suspended and adopted parents are granted full legal custody. In many jurisdictions the process includes a home study, background checks, consent from birth parents, and a court order. Adoption may result in changes to the adoptee's legal identity, such as a new surname or birth certificate.

A second sense is to accept or choose to follow something, such as adopting a policy, practice, name, or technology. This use emphasizes selecting something to be used or embraced. Likewise, one may adopt a pet from a shelter or rescue organization, giving the animal a new home while remaining legally recognized as its owner.

Open adoption refers to a relationship where some level of contact or information about birth relatives is maintained after the legal adoption, while closed adoption minimizes or separates such contact. Intercountry adoption covers cases where the adoptive family and the child are from different countries, subject to both countries' laws and intergovernmental safeguards. Stepparent or relative adoption involves establishing legal parenthood for a spouse or other relative.

Etymology: adopt comes from Late Latin adoptare, from Latin adoptus, meaning to choose for oneself. The term is used in legal, social, and everyday contexts to describe taking into one's care or embracing something new.