Nine out of ten children are adopted on the island of Fais

Fais is a Micronesian island where child adoption is a very widespread traditional custom. In 1977, the anthropologist D. Rubinstein noted that 92% of the children on the island had been adopted for social or economic reasons. Only 20% of them lived in the home of their adoptive parents, however, because these informal arrangements do not break the ties with the original family.