Short answer. Generally yes. Adoption severs the legal ties between the child and the biological parents. Under Section 16 of RA 8552, all legal ties between the biological parent(s) and the adoptee shall be severed and vested in the adopters — except where the biological parent is the spouse of the adopter.
What the law says
all legal ties between the biological parent(s) and the adoptee shall be severed and the same shall then be vested on the adopter(s)
RA 8552, Section 16 — Parental Authority Transferred. Read the full provision →
Adoption transfers parental authority
Adoption is not a partial or shared arrangement. Section 16 of Republic Act No. 8552 provides that, on adoption, all legal ties between the biological parent or parents and the adoptee shall be severed, and those ties are then vested on the adopters. Parental authority — the bundle of rights and duties over the child, including custody, care, and the power to decide for the child — passes from the biological parents to the adopters. The adopted child is, in law, treated as the child of the adopters, and the birth parents cease to hold the parental rights they once had.
The one exception the law keeps
The severance is near-total but not without exception. Section 16 carves out the case where the biological parent is the spouse of the adopter. This covers, for example, a step-parent adopting the child of the person he or she has married. There it would make no sense to cut the child off from the biological parent who is part of the adopting couple, so that parent's tie is preserved while the step-parent gains parental authority. Outside this situation, the general rule of complete severance applies, and the biological parents step out of the legal role entirely.
What severance means day to day
Once ties are severed, the biological parents no longer have custody rights, the right to make decisions for the child, or the duty of parental authority — these now belong to the adopters. The adopted child gains the standing of a legitimate child of the adopters, with the relationship the law attaches to that status. The purpose is to give the child a single, clear set of parents and a stable family, rather than a divided authority between two households. The break is meant to be permanent, reflecting that adoption creates a new and complete parent-child relationship.
Points worth confirming
Because adoption reorders a family's legal relationships so thoroughly, its effects reach beyond authority into matters like the child's surname and successional rights within the adoptive family. Anyone considering adoption, or a biological parent being asked to consent to one, should understand that consent to adoption is, in substance, consent to give up the legal parent-child relationship — subject only to the spouse exception. The consequences are lasting, so the decision and its paperwork deserve careful attention, and the exact effects on a particular family are worth confirming before proceeding.