[festus]

Can anyone explain to me why a parent puts a kid of theirs in an orphanage ?

I understand that he needed a wet nurse at first but then after that take care of your kids.

I guess my question goes beyond this particular story. Why do Dads/Moms do this ?

I've seen it done and I just can't get my head around it.

[silverleaf]

You haven't seen abject poverty like they have in the Third World. Even the conditions in the "orphanages" (at least one meal a day and a roof to sleep under) look better than what destitute parents in Malawi and elsewhere have to offer. Many kids in 3rd world orphanages are not orphans they are abandoned or relinquished for what families tell the authorities will be temporary stays, and this is acceptable in those cultures (which would look with horror on our own culture of abortion at the mother's whim up to the 9th month).

3rd world "orphanages" exist to provide what some destitute parents desperately hope will be temporary care, the same support that American foster care provides to hundreds of thousands of kids.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

f,
the answer here is that his wife died at birth, he has to work in the fields all day. Per capita income in Malawi is $160 ANNUALLY. He has few choices. He did all he could.