I Adopt Thee

The status of an adopted child differs according to his religion. It is worth noting that in Islam, adoption, although greatly encouraged, is no different than caring for a child. There is no change in the child's status. The child is not considered to be the natural child of his adoptive parents. He may not be named (dibinkan) as the child of the adoptive father and he has no rights of inheritance. In other words, an adoption order does not transfer the nasab of the child to the adopter and the adopted child remains the child of his natural parents. However an adopted child can only be returned to the natural parents with a court's permission. Also under the law, the name given to the child by the natural parents also could not be changed. Therefore in order for property to pass to an adopted child, there must be a gift (hibah) during the lifetime of the adoptive parents (known as an inter vivos gift) or through a will (though the value of the gift must not exceed one-third of the estate).
By contrast, an adopted child of a non Muslim couple is regarded as a child of the adopter born in lawful wedlock He will therefore treated as natural child of the couple with full legal rights including inheritance. The rights of the natural parents will be extinguished. The child and the adoptive parent of the opposite sex will also be deemed to be within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity i.e. they cannot get married even if the child was subsequently adopted by another.

Next-Applying for an adoption order