Guardianship and adoption are both legal methods to provide for a child’s care, but they have some distinct differences. Adoption permanently changes the legal relationship between the child and the adoptive parents, essentially removing all rights and responsibilities from the biological parents. Once a child is adopted, the adoptive parents become the child’s legal parents in every sense. Guardianship, on the other hand, is often a temporary arrangement and does not sever the legal relationship between the child and their biological parents. Parents might still retain some rights or responsibilities, and the guardianship can be terminated if circumstances change.