7.1 Concept and Scope of Adoption

Adoption is the legal creation of a parent-child relationship between persons not so related by birth — the adoptive child's full filiation with the adoptive family, with the corresponding severance from (or modification of) the birth family's legal ties. Its three classic purposes: lineage and succession (the son-adoption of the shastric world); child welfare (the modern turn — family placement for orphaned and abandoned children); and the childless couple's parenthood. Nepal's journey: the religious dattaka adoption (son-only, sacramental) → the Muluki Ain's adoption chapter (the son-adoption codified; daughters excluded) → the Children's Act, 2075 and the Civil Code, 2074: adoption as a child-centred civil institution — daughters adoptable, welfare-and-registration centred, inter-country adoption strictly controlled. Scope today: domestic adoption (relations' and strangers' adoption of Nepali children by Nepali citizens) and inter-country adoption (foreigners' adoption of Nepali children under the controlled framework); full adoption (with severance) as the design.