The Changing Face of Adoption

Abstract

The role of adoption in contemporary western society is quite different from any of its historical manifestations as outlined in the previous chapter. This reflects the nature of changes in the related cultural context. From its historical role in fairly closed societies with their well defined boundaries, structured roles and ordered social relationships, adoption has now adapted its functions in relation to the needs of nuclear impermanent family units within a more fluid cosmopolitan society. Modern forms of adoption very much reflect the characteristic pressures on contemporary family life in western society.