Orphan (Glossary)

Orphan: Although this term has essentially been eliminated from normal use in our modern society, with reference to adoptions, it is still used with a very specific definition in the regulations of the U. S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, with reference to the legal status of foreign children that adoptive parents who are U.S. citizens are seeking to adopt and bring into the United States to live. In that context, this term refers to a child in a foreign country who has no living parents, or whose parents have disappeared or have abandoned the child, or a child who has only one living parent who is not able to adequately provide for the proper care and support of the child. In order for a child to be able to be brought into the United States for the purpose of adoption, it must fit this definition of being an "orphan."