Adoption connotes the establishment of a socially constructed and legally sanctified parent-child relationships between those who do not share this biologically. As a universal custom adoption has existed across large parts of the world since ancient times. However cultural norms and practices related to it vary from society to society. Though there is a substantial and growing literature on adoption in Western countries there is a virtual dearth of systematic comprehensive and empirically-based studies on the subject in India. Much of the existing literature on adoption in India remains sketchy and fragmentary. This book is the first full-length empirical sociological study of adoption in India. It considers adoption as a dynamic phenomenon and views the complexities challenges and problems associated with it in a holistic perspective. The study focuses on the social familial and psychological problems and challenges faced by the adoptive parents before during and after the decision to adopt a child and on post-adoption services and counseling provided by adoption agencies and non-governmental organizations.