Adoption refers to an act by which an adult formally becomes the guardian of a child and takes the rights and responsibilities of a parent. At the conclusion of the legal proceedings a relationship between the child and the guardian is formed as the child becomes heir-at-law of the adopter and gain all legal rights that exist between a parent and a child.

Jurisdictions recognize two types of child adoption:

- open adoption – the law allows the biological mother of the child to choose the eventual adopter parents. Some jurisdictions permit parents in open adoption to keep visitation and contact rights with the child.

- closed adoption – the birth mother has given up on all rights over the child and the selection process for a guardian is conducted by the state agency.

The adoption proceeding basically involves the biological parents of the child and the petitioner, who wishes to become the adoptive parent. First, the biological parents must enter an application to the court through the state child agency and after their case is analyzed the court takes its verdict based on the child's best interests.

Regarding to the case if a petitioner would be granted their wish to became adopters the court leads very detailed investigation and analysis to qualify or not the petitioner as an "acceptably suitable" for becoming an adoptive parent.