FAQ--What is the purpose of a temple sealing in an LDS adoption?

When a couple gets married, they first have to apply for a legal license to create the family union. In the United States, most religious ceremonies double as the legal ceremony for the marriage. This is not the case everywhere in the world--some countries make the distinction between the two events. For instance, in  Romania a couple first is married in a court house--which satisfies the legal requirements for the marriage to be valid. Most often the courthouse ceremony is simple and includes only the bride and groom, or maybe a few close family members attend as witnesses. After the legal ceremony, the couple will join with a much larger wedding party, and more extensive family and friends to have a church wedding. It is their way of taking the wedding before God and seeking His blessing on the new family union.

Adoption has a similar process. First, we work to get the adoption legally approved--and of course this occurs in court. Once the child is legally joined to the family, then a couple who are members in good standing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes their family to one of the temples, where a sacred religious ceremony is performed to seal the family unit before God. This is a time when the family is blessed with the sweet promises that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of in Matthew 18:18--"Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven . . ."  To put it in other words, this is where a family is promised that they can be together forever if they live worthy of God's promises. As with the legal proceedings in court, this religious ceremony is repeated for each new addition to the family.

A biological child that comes to a family is not subjected to legal acceptance; likewise, neither do they need to have the sealing performed in the temple as an adopted child does if their parents have already been married before God in the temple. In this case, both the legal and religious union before God happens at birth.

In all cases, the purpose of going before God in a sacred temple ceremony--first as a couple, then with adopted children as needed--is an effort to live the principle that keeps us going--and that is families can be together forever.