Surrender

Refers to the voluntary act of TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS to an agency or a court. Once the parental rights of a person are officially transferred to either an agency, attorney or other intermediary as allowed by state law, the child may be placed into an adoptive family within the limits of state laws.

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This term has fallen out of favor with adoption advocates, who believe it has a negative connotation. Some adoption critics, however, purposely use the word to stress a negative message, for example, "I surrendered a child to adoption" rather than "I planned adoption" or the more neutral, "I placed a child for adoption."

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©2000 by Christine Adamec and William Pierce, Ph.D. Reprinted from The Encyclopedia of Adoption, 2nd Edition (2nd Edition) with permission of Facts On File, Inc.