Adoption is a form of family legal care for children who do not have adequate family care, and in this way a permanent relationship between parent and child is created. Adoption aims to provide the child with a family, home and security. The paper presents adoption as one of the most suitable forms of care for children without adequate parental care, in which the welfare of the child comes first. All the stages of the adoption process that the child and potential adopters go through, the establishment of the adoption itself and the legal effects of the adoption are described. The adoption procedure is carried out by the Croatian Institute for Social Work, and the parties in the procedure are the child and the most suitable potential adopter. Without the consent of the biological parents or a substitute decision of the adoption court, the procedure itself can not be initiated, and in order for the adoption to be established, all prerequisites for adoption must be met on the part of the child and the adoptive parents. By adoption, the adopter is registered in the birth register as the child's parent and acquires the right to parental care.