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Perfect Substitutes Or The Real Thing?, Naomi Cahn

Duke Law Journal

This Article traces the development of adoption law using recent scholarship in history and sociology, as well as nineteenth century legal sources. The early history of American adoption provides a novel and useful context to analyze the complicated relationships between "traditional" and "alternative" family forms. The Article discusses how judicial interpretations of the meaning of adoption were cabined by the traditional significance of blood relationships, and examines the treatment of adopted and biological children in three contexts: parental consent to adoption, inheritance, and the civil and criminal laws governing incest. The Article argues that the challenge today, as was true …