and now, a poll

[kindkit]

Following on from my previous post, because now I'm beginning to wonder if what I think is my culture's view of adoption and birth mothers is not actually the case. The poll is as anonymous as I can make it, and anonymous comments are allowed.

Poll #18972

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 27

When a woman places her child up for adoption rather than raising the child herself, how is that predominantly viewed in your culture (not necessarily by you)?

Good! This is an excellent thing to do if she felt unable to raise the child herself.
11 (40.7%)

Neutral, neither good nor bad.
6 (22.2%)

Bad. She should have raised the child.
3 (11.1%)

Adoption is extremely rare or nonexistent in my culture.
2 (7.4%)

Other, which I may choose to elaborate on in the comments.
5 (18.5%)

Comments

[lilacsigil]

It's not so much bad as tragic - of course she would want to raise her own wanted child, how sad that she couldn't. Adoption outside of foster care or kinship adoptions is really rare.

ETA: I did go to school with several adopted kids, and they were all Aboriginal kids being raised by white families except for one Indonesian kid adopted by Christian missionaries.

[kindkit]

I think adoption may be a lot more common in the US than elsewhere--I just found a statistic that says that 1 in 25 households with children has at least one adopted child.

I suspect it has a lot to do with the US's conservatism on a lot of issues, for example the stigma surrounding abortion and the insufficient financial and other assistance for single parents.