Adoption ends the legal tie between a child and their birth parents, and all parental responsibility is transferred to the adoptive parents.

A special guardianship order doesn't end the legal relationship between a child and their birth parents. Special guardians can exercise parental responsibility to the exclusion of all others, and they have the final say in most decisions about a child’s upbringing. However, birth parents' ties aren't severed, and they would still need to be consulted in a few specific situations.

An adoption order can only be reversed in highly exceptional and extremely limited circumstances and for the most part is viewed as permanent, but an SGO can be varied or overturned in very specific circumstances. This means it doesn't give the same level of permanent security that an adoption order does.