In many societies, the family does not have enough kin in the nuclear or extended family. They need to add new members to perform all of the necessary chores or to inherit access to family property. There may be a shortage of family members because of infertility or deaths (particularly of young children) from introduced diseases or natural disasters, such as hurricanes or because the adults do not get along and cooperate in the traditional ways. Many societies adopt children to deal with one or another of these problems, or families adopt one or more related children to relieve the pressure on resources in the family that adopts the child “out.”
The family Melvin Ember lived with at the beginning of his fieldwork in the Pacific islands of American Samoa had six children. The oldest, Tavita, was 11 at the time and in school most of the day, as were three of the other children. Tavita had been adopted informally. His natural mother, who lived in the same village, was a sister of Tavita’s adoptive mother. By adopting Tavita “out,” his natural family, which already had nine children, was relieved of the responsibility of feeding and caring for him. In addition to depopulation and hurricanes, reducing the number of mouths to feed was a common reason for adoption in Samoan villages then, as it was elsewhere in the far Pacific islands.110 A number of factors generated unusual population growth, particularly the availability of more jobs and improved medical care (there was a medical dispensary in every village and a hospital on the main island).111
Of course, adoption occurs in industrial societies as well. As of the 1990s (the latest figures available), there have been more than 100,000 legally recognized adoptions in the United States per year. About 50 percent of the adoptions are of children who are relatives, and usually close relatives; a large number of these adoptions may be solutions to resource problems for the natural mothers. More than 10,000 children from abroad who are not usually relatives are adopted each year. Most of the known adoptions, foreign and domestic, are arranged by middle-class or wealthier people, since a sizeable amount of money may have been spent, particularly for foreign adoptions. Most of the adopted children, domestic and foreign, apparently turn out as well adjusted as natural children.112