Adoption Terms Explained
Common adoption terms in simple language so you can better understand your options and feel more confident as you make decisions for yourself and your baby.
Adoptee
A person who has been adopted.
Adoption
A legal process that creates a permanent parent-child relationship between a child and an adoptive family. When a child is adopted, the adoptive parents become the child’s legal parents.
Adoption Agency
An organization that helps birth parents and adoptive families through the adoption process by providing counseling, education, support, and matching services.
Adoption Attorney
An adoption attorney is a lawyer who specializes in adoption law and helps ensure the adoption process is completed legally. An adoption attorney can explain your rights, prepare legal documents, obtain necessary consents, and represent parties in court during the adoption process. While an attorney handles the legal aspects of an adoption, they may not provide the counseling, education, and support services typically offered by a licensed adoption agency.
Adoption Assistance
Financial or supportive services available to certain adoptive families.
Adoption Consent Laws in Wyoming
Adoption consent laws in Wyoming explain when and how a birth parent can legally agree to an adoption. In Wyoming, a birth mother cannot sign adoption consent paperwork until after her baby is born. Once consent is signed according to Wyoming law, it is generally considered legally binding. Because adoption laws can be complex and every situation is unique, it is important to work with a licensed adoption agency or attorney who can explain your rights and ensure you fully understand your options before making any decisions.
Adoptive Parent Profile
A collection of photos, letters, and information that helps expectant parents learn about waiting families.
Adoption Placement
The time when a child is placed with the adoptive family following birth and legal consent.
Adoption Plan
The set of choices you make if you decide adoption is right for you. Your plan may include choosing a family, deciding how much contact you would like after placement, and creating a hospital plan.
Learn about creating an adoption plan with Wyoming Children’s Society
Adoption Record
A legal document related to an adoption.
Adoption Specialist
A professional who helps guide birth parents and adoptive families through the adoption process.
Adoption Tax Credit
A federal tax benefit that may help adoptive families offset certain adoption-related expenses.
Adoptive Family
The family that adopts and raises a child.
Amended Birth Certificate
A new birth certificate issued after adoption that lists the adoptive parents as the child’s legal parents.
Best Interest of the Child
A legal standard used to make decisions that support a child’s safety, well-being, and long-term needs.
Birth Mother
A woman who gives birth to a child and chooses adoption for her baby.
Birth Father
The biological father of the child. Depending on state laws, birth fathers may have certain rights and responsibilities during the adoption process.
Birth Parent Counseling
Counseling services that provide support before, during, and after placement to help birth parents make informed decisions and process emotions.
Birth Parent Expenses
Certain pregnancy-related expenses that may legally be paid on behalf of an expectant mother, depending on state law.
Birth Parent Rights
The legal rights and protections given to birth mothers and birth fathers during the adoption process.
Biological Parent
A child’s genetic mother or father.
Closed Adoption
An adoption involving little or no ongoing contact between the birth parents and the adoptive family after placement.
Learn more about Types of Adoption
Confidential Adoption
An adoption in which identifying information is kept private between the parties involved.
Consent
The legal agreement that allows an adoption to take place.
Counseling
Professional emotional support that helps birth parents and adoptive families navigate adoption.
Domestic Adoption
The adoption of a child within the United States.
Learn more about Wyoming Children’s Society Domestic Infant Adoption program
Expectant Mother
A woman who is currently pregnant.
Expectant Parents
The pregnant woman and the baby’s father before the baby is born.
Facilitator
An adoption facilitator is a person or business that connects expectant parents with prospective adoptive families. Unlike a licensed adoption agency, an adoption facilitator typically does not provide counseling, legal services, home studies, or ongoing support throughout the adoption process. Adoption facilitators are not licensed in many states, and their services and regulations vary. If you are considering adoption, it is important to understand the difference between a licensed adoption agency and an adoption facilitator so you can make an informed decision and receive the support you need.
Finalization
The court process that legally completes an adoption.
Foster Care Adoption
The adoption of a child from the foster care system when reunification with biological family is no longer possible.
Home Study
A required evaluation for adoptive families that includes interviews, background checks, education, and a review of the home environment.
Hospital Plan
A plan that outlines your wishes for labor, delivery, time with your baby, visitors, and the adoptive family’s involvement at the hospital.
ICPC (Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children)
A legal process that helps ensure children are safely and legally placed across state lines.
Independent Adoption
An adoption that occurs without an adoption agency, typically involving attorneys and other professionals.
Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
A federal law designed to protect the best interests of Native American children and preserve tribal families and culture.
Infant Adoption
The adoption of a newborn or young infant.
International Adoption
The adoption of a child from another country.
International Adoption options with Wyoming Children’s Society
Interstate Adoption
An adoption involving birth parents and adoptive parents who live in different states.
Kinship Adoption
An adoption in which a relative, such as a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or sibling, adopts a child.
Legal Risk Adoption
An adoption situation where legal issues, such as parental rights, have not yet been fully resolved.
Match
When an expectant parent and an adoptive family agree to move forward together in an adoption plan.
Matching Process
The process of introducing and connecting expectant parents with prospective adoptive families.
Multi-Ethnic Placement Act (MEPA)
A federal law that prohibits delaying or denying adoption placements based on race, color, or national origin.
Open Adoption
An adoption that allows ongoing communication between birth parents, the child, and the adoptive family through photos, letters, calls, messages, or visits.
Learn more about Types of Adoption
Original Birth Certificate
The birth certificate created when a child is born, before adoption occurs.
Parenting Plan
The decision to raise and care for your child yourself.
Permanency
Providing a child with a safe, stable, and lifelong family.
Placement Day
The day a child officially goes home with the adoptive family.
Post-Adoption Contact Agreement
A written agreement outlining future communication between birth parents and the adoptive family.
Post-Placement Contact
Communication between birth parents and the adoptive family after placement.
Pregnancy Options
The choices available during an unplanned pregnancy, which may include parenting, adoption, and, depending on state laws, abortion.
Putative Father Registry
A registry that allows an alleged biological father to claim parental rights to a child.
Relative Adoption
Another term for kinship adoption.
Relinquishment
The legal process of voluntarily giving consent for adoption.
Reunion
When an adoptee and birth family reconnect later in life.
Revocation Period
The amount of time, if any, that a birth parent may have to change their mind after signing adoption paperwork. Laws vary by state.
Safe Haven Law
A law that allows a parent to legally surrender a newborn at approved locations under specific circumstances.
Search and Reunion Services
Services that help adoptees and birth family members locate and reconnect with one another.
Semi-Open Adoption
An adoption that allows communication between birth parents and the adoptive family, often with the adoption agency helping facilitate contact.
Learn more about Types of Adoption
Social Worker
A trained professional who provides counseling, support, education, and case management services during adoption.
Stepparent Adoption
When a stepparent legally adopts their spouse’s child.
Termination of Parental Rights (TPR)
The legal process that ends a biological parent’s legal rights and responsibilities to a child.
Unplanned Pregnancy
A pregnancy that was not expected or intended.
Facing an. unplanned pregnancy?
Voluntary Adoption
An adoption that occurs when birth parents willingly choose adoption for their child.
Waiting Child Adoption
Learn more about Waiting Child Adoption
Waiting Family
A family hoping to adopt who has completed the required approval process.