Spring 2027

Adoption Law and Policy

Adoption Law and Policy addresses legal issues in creating adoptive families, examining state, federal, and international regulations, constitutional limits, and ethical obligations of professionals.

offering recorded2–3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify adoption law issues and understand underlying legal theories.

  • Apply the law to various factual scenarios and develop a contextual framework for analyzing adoption law issues.

  • Develop an understanding of how the history and evolution of adoption law, policy and practice relates to and is influenced by the broader social, economic and geopolitical context in which it is situated.

  • Formulate policy goals to address the legal needs surrounding families and children.

  • Evaluate and critically analyze adoption law and the family regulation system.

  • Conduct original research about proposed adoption legislation and write an analytical research paper.

  • Develop an understanding of the role, ethical obligations, and strategic choices of lawyers in adoption law matters.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades

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Prerequisites

Course map

Declared in Law JD

  • Declared in Law JD
LAW 937

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Declared in Law JD

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 200

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

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Student experience

the class

Addresses the fundamental and evolving issues arising when adoptive families are created by law and considers the historical, societal and geopolitical elements shaping adoption law. Study state, federal and international regulations governing adoption, including constitutional limitations on regulation and practice. Examine the role and ethical obligations of attorneys, social workers and physicians in adoption practice. Examine the legal system's regulation of "gray market" adoptions and explore current challenges related to adoption of Native American children and the Indian Child Welfare Act, adoption by queer individuals, adoption of children from foster care, and openness in adoption.

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • State, federal, and international adoption regulations and constitutional limitations.
  • Challenges involving Native American children, ICWA, queer adoption, foster care, and openness.
  • Ethical obligations and roles of attorneys, social workers, and physicians in adoption.
  • Legal regulation of gray market adoptions.

Skills

  • Apply adoption law to factual scenarios and develop analytical frameworks.
  • Conduct original research on adoption legislation and write analytical papers.
  • Understand ethical obligations and strategic choices for lawyers in adoption matters.
  • Formulate policy goals addressing legal needs of families and children.

Grades

Instructor

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Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

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Selected offering source records
LAW 937 · Spring 2027

Adoption Law and Policy

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:528:027117",
    "course_id": "LAW 937",
    "course_uid": "course_434353c23baf5caea7d0dc5a",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "027117",
    "source_subject_id": "528",
    "title": "Adoption Law and Policy",
    "credits_min": 2,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]
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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "08c9871cf0593cbc3b5d4189f7d798b39398b9e2787f556672e52d0a640dcf39",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}