Adopt: receive as a child who is not naturally, receive as their own opinions, methods,

ideologies created by others, take resolutions or agreements with prior examination.

Introduction Adoption is the most extreme measure that can be taken within the child
protection system in a situation of risk or lack of protection, for two fundamental reasons,
which do not occur in the other protection alternatives:

1.- it supposes a radical change of the previous legal situation of all those involved. Legally,
those who were parents cease to be parents, those who did not have a child become the son
and the central protagonist, who is adopted, ceases to be the son of the former and becomes
the son of the latter.

2.- its irrevocable character. In all other protective measures it is possible to reverse or change
the situation, so that a family can be in a family preservation program and then stop being, a
girl can be in foster care and then move on to a permanent one, a child can be in a center and
then move on to a family, etc. But adoption is irreversible. In fact, it is legally as irreversible as
biological affiliation, with no differences between the two affiliations in the rights and
obligations they generate. The adoption of minors by people with whom it has no biological
relationship is not a new phenomenon. It has existed in all historical times and in all cultures.
The presence of adoption in literature (Perdita in Shakespeare, Oliver Twist in Dickens,) Attests
to both its existence, and its ability to excite the imagination around it. The practice of
adoption has its origin in the principle of human society. From the Babylonians to the
Egyptians, Indians, Chinese and Romans, adoption was a way of providing an heir thus
ensuring the succession of rich families including the inheritance of their property. The first
adoption law in America emerges in the middle of the 19th century with the passage in 1851 of
the Massachusetts Statute, whose purpose is the welfare of children.

A child has the right to childhood, a fundamental period of discovery, training and initiation to
individual and social life. A child has the right to have a true family that recognizes him as his
son, and that he recognizes as his family. A child has the right to respect the protection
required by his vulnerability, the hope and the potentials that he embodies. The happy child is
the desired one, whether biological or adopted. A child is not responsible for the situation of
their parents or their attitudes or their failures: they should never be a victim of them.
Although it is not a novelty, there is no doubt that in recent decades the adoption of minors
has acquired an unusual magnitude and visibility. According to the estimation of Palacios and
Brodzinsky (2005), between 120,000 and 150,000 children are adopted each year in western
countries, which gives an idea of the quantitative importance of the phenomenon.
Nevertheless, although there are many children to adopt and there are many parents who
wish to do so, there are also many bureaucratic difficulties. This fact means that currently,
whether for humanitarian or practical purposes, there is an increase in the adoption of foreign
children (Adoption factbook, 1985). On the other hand, the increase in contraceptive measures
that allow reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies, the existence of social laws that
support single mothers and couples with economic difficulties and the development of
procreation techniques, have had an impact on the decrease in the number of adoptions
Around each and every one of these adoptions there is a good number of professional
interventions that are carried out by the public administration responsible for the protection
of minors, by the judicial apparatus (the adoption is not an administrative decision, but
judicial) and by professionals who are involved in any of the very diverse professional activities
that the phenomenon of adoption generates.
Modalities of adoption

The adoption can be national or international, depending on whether those who are adopted
are of Ecuadorian nationality or not. National adoption has existed for centuries, international
adoption is of much more recent appearance, being its legal regulation between the year
1996, with an extension and updating in the law of international adoption of 2007. Against
this, the adoption international seems more protected from eventualities, being less likely that
no one appears to claim the return of the child and, if it did, there would be virtually no chance
that this would affect the adoption already constituted.

B. National adoption very often concerns boys and girls who have already turned a few years,
or who expect to be adopted with a brother or sister, or who have a relevant problem ... Or
who present all these features at the same time. Since most of those who adopt do so after
three failed attempts of biological conception -natural or assisted-, in their expectations is
usually the idea of characteristics (of age and absence of problems) that resemble as much as
possible the that would have occurred in the case of biological affiliation. It is that expectation
that guides many adoption applicants to other countries, with the hope of a child as small as
possible, desirably a baby without special problems.

C. The conformity of public, central and regional institutions with responsibility for protection,
much more dedicated to responding to the demand than to channel it and much more
motivated by the trajines of international adoption than by drastically reducing the scandalous
Spanish figures of residential care .

Age of Adoption

Studies in Great Britain, North America and Sweden suggest that when children are adopted at
an early age, it seems that adoption results in a good outcome in 85% of cases. Several authors
(Triseliotis, J. Et al. 1992), describe a relationship between the child's older age and failure to
adopt. The psycho-affective past disturbed by the numerous hospitalizations in institutions,
the various family problems experienced, the feeling of abandonment for many years ... Make
integration into a new family very difficult and often impossible at high ages. Authors such as
Yarrow & Klein (1980), highlight the importance of making the adoption before six months,
that the child has not yet made a focused relationship. Spitz (1970), in his studies, highlights
the vulnerability of the child to the loss of the object (the mother) between eight and eighteen
months, and the importance of the mother-child relationship for a good psycho-affective
development. On the other hand, studies by Tizard (1977) show that older children can be
adopted successfully. But we must bear in mind that some older children have strong ties with
their families and that despite the way they are treated they do not want to be adopted.
Others need a slow preparation and a gradual introduction to their new family, and more if
they have had other failed experiences with previous families. In situations like these, love is
not enough, children can have many adaptation problems, they are very insecure, with little
impulse control and can sometimes have diagnosable psychiatric disorders. Often, there may
be a search for attention with poor interpersonal relationships. This would imply greater
preparation for families adopting older children. But anyway, it can be assured with certainty
that adopted children have better results and fewer psychosocial problems than
institutionalized children or who are part of foster families. However, these problems are
greater than in the general population.