It is widely believed in many cultures of the world that when a mother places a child with another family, she is not fulfilling the duties of being a responsible parent. This is precisely why adoption is a common phenomenon found mostly in developed and western countries. It is not to say that people do not adopt children in other countries, but those adoptions are generally based on the circumstances where a child’s parents are dead or if somebody has abandoned their female child.
Child adoption in some cultures is also considered a social taboo because it is emphasized that a child from other parents cannot be considered equal to a birth child. It is because of this social stigma associated with adoption that many couples remain childless throughout their lives. Even if some people do adopt a child in cultures and countries where adoption is a taboo, the adopted child does not get the same inheritance and legal rights as those given to the birth children.

Adopted children in some situations also face social and familial pressures where they are subjected to unfair treatment on part of friends and relatives of the foster parents; sometimes the foster parents themselves are unable to accept the child wholeheartedly. In situations where the foster parents also have a child of their own by birth and choose to adopt one as well, they are unable to give equal rights and attention to both the children. It is usually observed in such countries that the male parent marries for the second time just to bear children of his own with or without giving up his first marriage.

The need for developing nations to put in place policies that make it convenient for couples wishing to adopt children from their own country is tremendous. Moreover, it is the social stigma associated with adoption that needs to be done away with. It also serves as an aid to those parents who cannot provide a decent life for a child and wish to place them for adoption. This, in turn, will lead to fewer cases of child mortality, child labor and illiteracy in underdeveloped countries with cultures that are not supportive of child adoption.