Since the beginning of time, individuals have been known to adopt the biological children of others. The idea of adoption is mentioned in the Bible, in the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and even by the Babylonians. While its roots go back thousands of years, adoption didn't become a thing people spoke of until the latter half of the 20th century. Shockingly enough, there were no laws in place prior to the 1850s governing the adoption of children in the United States.
Prior to the creation of specific laws pertaining to adoption, parents and adoptive parents informally transferred children. This had been going on since the colonial times. During the early years of American society, there were no formal procedures in place to record births or name changes of a baby. This made it very easy to adopt a child informally. In many cases, sadly, adoptions were economically motivated. Industrialization resulted in massive immigration to cities.
In many cases, a family would not have the financial ability to support their children. As a result, the birth parents or a charitable institution that took the baby off of the hands of the family would informally transfer the child to another family. In many cases, because they need so much labor, the children were sent to the country to be adopted by farms. The trains carrying the children between 1854 and 1929 were called orphan trains, although the term isn't really accurate.
As the total number of informal adoptions increased, it became evident to lawmakers everywhere that something needed to be done to create a formal process for adoption. In 1851, Massachusetts became the first state to have an adoption statute. Under this original statute, adoption had to be approved by a judge, required the consent of the child's parents or guardian, and could only occur if the prospective adoptive family had the financial means to raise a child.
At the turn of the 20th century, states began creating ways to keep an adoption record private. Only the parties to the adoption could see what was in the file. Not until the 1930s did statutes begin to implement the closed adoption style of secrecy.
Parental consent to the adoption of a child has been a part of adoptions since the very beginning. The big questions have been who are parents and what constitutes consent. These definitions vary by state and have also varied with time. In addition to voluntary parental consent, the state can now acquire parental consent for adoption by demands. This is called involuntary parental consent.
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Joseph Devine