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The Development of Adoption

History is like a big stack of Legos; one era is built on top of the last one. In fact, if you look at history, you can see how today relates to past events. Likewise, a look at the history of adoption will help you understand the process today.

Adoption was supposedly practiced even before people were keeping written records. Mythology tells tales of gods and humans alike adopting kids, and some archaeological evidence supports this.

In recorded history—the history we can prove with ancient writings—Greeks, Romans, biblical societies, and ancient civilizations all employed the practice of adopting children.

In the New World
In America, adoption has been commonly practiced since the early 1600s. And until 1851, when Massachusetts passed the first state adoption laws, adoptions had been very informal and “open” in nature, with identifying information being exchanged between the parties to the adoption, who often were close relatives or friends. With the passage of these new laws in 1851, adoptions began to require, among other things, that the birth parents and the adoptive couple sign formalized consent forms and have the forms approved by the court. After these laws were passed, more and more states began to legally regulate the adoption process.

In the midst of these new regulations, the Western adoption train program was created in 1854. This program sent orphaned and abandoned children from Eastern cities westward by train to be adopted by farm families residing there. In the 75 years the program was in effect, more than 150,000 children were removed from dangerous city environments to the loving atmosphere of farm families in the West.

Later Improvements
More changes regarding adoption began to occur during the early 20th century. While most adoptions had previously been “open” adoptions or direct placements from birth mothers to the adoptive families, most adoptions from this time forward occurred as “closed” adoptions, wherein no identifying information was exchanged between the parties to the adoption. This change can be mostly attributed to the creation of adoption agencies whose professional staff members began to believe that “closed” adoptions were more beneficial and in the best interests of everyone involved. This is how closed adoptions became so prevalent during the last 75 years. In fact, because of the longevity of this practice, many people remained completely unaware that there was an alternative to closed adoptions.

During the last ten years, however, “open” adoptions have been making a strong comeback. In fact, today in most adoptions the birth mother is involved in the selection of the adoptive couple for her child and usually meets them. Most of today’s adoption plans also involve a level of openness between the two parties, which may range from the exchange of identifying information to ongoing communication. This change in today’s adoptions is in sharp contrast to most closed adoptions of the past wherein the birth mother was not usually even afforded the opportunity to either meet or participate in the selection of the adoptive couple for her child.

Some other changes to the adoption process that came about in the early 20th century include the evolution of maternity homes which provided a place where young, unwed mothers could stay while they nursed their babies until they could be weaned and placed with their adoptive families. However, once infant formulas were invented in the 1920s, newborns and adoptive parents could be united within days of the birth, eliminating the need for the birth mother to nurse the newborn.

Shifts in Adoption Norms
Along with the reemergence of “open” adoption, many birth mothers and adoptive couples choose agency adoption over private adoption. This change has mostly been attributed to the safety associated with an agency adoption and the comfort people feel they gain when they utilize a licensed adoption agency.

It is difficult to predict future trends in adoption. However, one thing is certain. As long as there are women who need a loving, caring solution to an unplanned pregnancy, or adoptive couples who want to start or expand their family, there will be a need for adoption.

Sometimes adoption has been confused with the practice of indentured servitude, a practice brought to this country from Europe. However, indentured servitude was not a form of adoption at all, but was a way for orphaned children to learn a trade while earning their keep, and was outlawed in 1865.

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