An adopted child is a child who is not the biological offspring of a parent, or parents, yet becomes the child of the parent for all legal intents and purposes. Adoptive parents are the full legal guardians of adopted children. Children can be adopted domestically or internationally. Sometimes adults are adopted, and can qualify as adopted children. This is often done for inheritance purposes.
There are many reasons why a child may be put up for adoption. It could be because the child's parents have died, because the child's parents were too young and decided that the child would be better off with adoptive parents, etc. Adoptions are typically carried out by adoption agencies. Prospective adoptive parents are put through a screening process. Once the adoption goes through, the adopted child has all the same rights and privileges that a biological child to the same parents would have