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Final judgment of adoption marks a turning point in the status of the natural and adoptive parents. Entry of such a judgment terminates all relationships between the adopted child and his/her natural parents and all of the rights, duties, and obligations of any persons that are founded on such relationships, N.J.S.A. 9:3-50(a), including the inchoate right of a biological parent to develop and maintain such a relationship. See Sorentino v. Family & Children's Society of Elizabeth, 74 N.J. 313, 324, 378 A.2d 18 (1977). Subsequent to judgment, the adoptive parents are, as a matter of law, the parents of that child as if the child had been born to the adoptive parents in lawful wedlock. N.J.S.A. 9:3-50(b); In re Adoption of Baby T, 311 N.J. Super. 408, 414, 709 A.2d 1381 (App.Div.1998); In re Adoption of Children by N.M., 96 N.J. Super. 415, 233 A.2d 188 (App.Div.1967); In re Child Adoption by I.T., 162 N.J. Super. 587, 394 A.2d 120 (Cty.Co.1978); In re Adoption of a Child by McKinley, 157 N.J. Super. 293, 384 A.2d 920 (Ch.Div.1978); In Re Neuwirth's Estate, 155 N.J. Super. 410, 382 A.2d 972 (Cty.Co.1978).
The Supreme Court of ...
