adoption

n. taking of a child as one's own; act of adopting; state of being adopted; (Legal) court proceeding according to which an adult becomes the legal parent of a child who is not his/her biological child; acceptation, act of accepting with approval; positive acceptance

Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth mother or father. An adoption order has the effect of severing the parental responsibilities and rights of the birth parents and transferring those responsibilities and rights onto the adoptive parent(s). After the finalization of an adoption, there is no legal difference between adopted children and those born to the parents. There are several kinds of adoption, which can be defined both by effect (e.g., whether the adoption is open or closed, see below) and by location and the origin of the child (i.e., domestic or international adoption).
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n. adoption, taking of a child as one's own

n. adoption, adopt; espousal, passage

(n.)
The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance; as, the adoption of opinions.
  

(n.)
The act of adopting, or state of being adopted; voluntary acceptance of a child of other parents to be the same as one's own child.
  

(n.)
Admission to a more intimate relation; reception; as, the adoption of persons into hospitals or monasteries, or of one society into another.