Adoption

the act of taking a stranger into one's family as a son or a daughter. In England, where the inheritance of real estate is guarded very carefully, adoptions are not recognized by law, but in the United States most states provide by a statute for the adoption of children. A child thus adopted becomes, to all intents and purposes, a member of the family, and is an heir-at-law as though it were the actual child of the family. In point of law an adopted child is on an exact equality with the other children, if any, and is their legal brother or sister, as the case may be. Parents adopting a child must provide for it as though it were their own. See Inheritance