Could "Adoption" be changed to this system?

I have no problem with the idea of not changing the birth certificate. I adopted through foster care (in the US) and was really surprised when they told us near the end of the process that there would be a new certificate with our names on it, essentially showing that we gave birth to these kids on that day. It seemed at odds with everything else we had learned in training about honesty and respecting the children's rights to know as much as possible about their original families, to have feelings for them, etc. Everything else was about being open and honest and suddenly there was this big lie which seems totally unnecessary to me. I'm not threatened by the fact that someone else gave birth to these children. I don't need to pretend that isn't the case.

At the same time, I think kids need parents, not "legal guardians." I think the new family that is created has lots of challenges as it is. I don't look at our children as "second best" to any other children we might have given birth to, but in a way I do see us as "second best" for them compared to the family they might have had if things had been different. Because we don't have a genetic link and because we missed part of their early years, we already have some strikes against us. Yet now we are the family they have and it's in the best interest of the children for this family to be everything to them that it possibly can be. I wouldn't want to have some kind of legal name for our relationship that defined us as somehow less than a real family. The phrase "enduring parental responsibility" doesn't sound like a family to me. There's no love in that phrase.

I would rather see adoption, but without the falsifying documents and sealed records.

Yes, it could, but it probably never would 'cause where would all the money come from? :(

Seriously, this is all I want - lose the ability to turn it into a lie/wipe histories, such as adoption currently does, and I stop being anti-adoption 'cause all the other stuff's already covered by child protection laws.

i agree with the second scenario. if something happened to my sister and i ended up raising her children, i'd never want their birth certificates to be changed. i also wouldn't have them call me mom. they'd still be my godchildren and always be able to know where they came from. but i'd still be parenting, but would not try to take the place of their mother.

I think the system you describe sounds very humane and do-able. It could completely eradicated the adoption agencies, the exchange of money for babies, and sealed records.