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Adoption is the legal proceeding whereby a person takes another person into the relation of child and thereby acquires the rights and incurs the responsibilities of parent in respect of such other person.

An adult unmarried person or an adult husband and his adult wife together may adopt another person.

There are various types of adoptions including:

• Agency Identified Adoption - an adoption through a public or private agency.
• Identified Adoption – an adoption where adoptive parents and birth parents connect with each other directly or through an intermediary.
• Independent Adoption - where the birth mother personally selects the adoptive parents through personal knowledge of them.
• International Adoption - an adoption in which the adoptive child is a citizen of another country.
• Kinship Adoption - an adoption in which the adoptive parent is related to the child.
• Stepparent Adoption - a parent's new spouse adopts child of a previous spouse.

Each type of adoption has its own set of procedures and requirements to be followed.

All states require adoptive parents to undergo a home study or investigation to make sure that they are fit to raise a child. Typically, the study is conducted by a state agency or a licensed social worker who examines the adoptive parents' home life and prepares a report that the court will review before allowing the adoption to take place. The social worker will examine a number of areas considered important to the adoptive parents' ability to raise a child including financial stability, marital stability, lifestyles, other children, career obligations, physical and mental health, and criminal history.

All adoptions, whether handled by an agency or done independently, must be approved by a court. The adoptive parents must file an adoption petition with the court and provide notice to anyone who is required to consent to the adoption such as the biological parents of a child born out of wedlock, the biological mother of a child born out of wedlock, fathers of children born out of wedlock provided certain criteria are satisfied, any person or adoption agency having custody of the child, and the child or his or her legal representative in some instances.

A standard adoption petition will generally include detailed information regarding the adoptive parents and the child to be adopted, the relationship between the adoptive parents and the child to be adopted, the legal reason that the birthparents' rights are being terminated, a statement that the adoptive parents are the appropriate people to adopt the child, and a statement that the adoption is in the child's best interests. The written consents of the birthparents or the court order terminating their parental rights are filed along with the petition.

At the adoption hearing, if the court determines that the adoption is in the child's best interest, the judge will issue an order approving and finalizing the adoption.