An adoptive parent is a non-biological parent of a child who becomes a parent through the adoption process as opposed to through biological conception. In order to become an adoptive parent, a person must go through screening processes from adoption agencies and must pass background checks, etc. Adoptive parents are full legal guardians of the children they adopt.
There are a number of things that can cause a person to not qualify to be an adoptive parent. For example, if he or she has a serious criminal record, if he or she has a history of drug abuse, if he or she is not a certain number of years older than the child, etc. Some adoptions are open and some are closed. For open adoptions, adoptive parents and natural biological parents are allowed to keep in contact, and often communicate with one another. With closed adoptions, this typically does not happen.