Iirc in China (a long time ago, obviously) it used to be common practice for families with more children than they could raise or want to give them away to wealthier families or childless relatives. In the case of the childless relatives, it was literally a matter of life or death. A child would be able to tend the farm, earn money, and support their adoptive parents into retirement - in effect, if you were an aging adult, your son was your retirement plan. If you were poor and couldn’t acquire yourself a child (specifically, a son since women were almost always dependents) you were in for a rough time
Some of my older relatives were adopted under these conditions.
LukaSACom on April 9th, 2023 at 07:52 UTC »
She had nine children in total
Kandiruaku on April 9th, 2023 at 09:35 UTC »
I know a Korean woman, the oldest of 8 sibs, her mother sold the other 7 to buy tickets to America for the two of them after the Korean War.
NotAnAce69 on April 9th, 2023 at 11:40 UTC »
Iirc in China (a long time ago, obviously) it used to be common practice for families with more children than they could raise or want to give them away to wealthier families or childless relatives. In the case of the childless relatives, it was literally a matter of life or death. A child would be able to tend the farm, earn money, and support their adoptive parents into retirement - in effect, if you were an aging adult, your son was your retirement plan. If you were poor and couldn’t acquire yourself a child (specifically, a son since women were almost always dependents) you were in for a rough time
Some of my older relatives were adopted under these conditions.