Polynesia
“Fluid adoption” is common in Polynesian culture, and rarely are ties to the biological family severed, as traditionally has occurred in Western adoptions. Many Europeans and Americans associate adoption as a solution to something gone wrong, e.g. unwanted pregnancy (by genetic parent) or infertility (by adoptive parent). By contrast, some Polynesian cultures, for example in Sikaiana, prefer that children move between different households. Fosterage is viewed as a way to create and maintain close personal relations, and parents traditionally do not refuse to let others take their children. These transfers of children between different caretakers and households are not exclusive, and they do not permanently separate the children from their biological parents.
New Zealand Māori have a form of traditional adoption practised within extended family called whāngai literally meaning to feed. Ties to the biological family are not normally severed.
Tahitians practice “fa’a’amu” adoption (meaning literally “giving to eat” adoption). Its basic functions compare to the ones of other traditional adoption practices, notably in Africa; a child can be “given” with the agreement or on the initiative of the family council for a variety of reasons, they can even be asked for and given before birth.
Read more about this topic: Cultural Variations In Adoption