Adoption provides childless parents an opportunity to care for a parentless child. Adoption was legalized in the US in the 1850s and the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 aimed to improve child safety and find permanent homes for foster children. There are private and public adoption methods, with most children adopted privately being placed directly with adoptive families. While adoption can benefit many, there are also risks like an open adoption being disrupted or an adopted child not knowing their birth parents and having identity issues.