Generic Groups
- Abaiang People (under Kiribati)
- Abelites
- African Children's Choir
- Argentinian Orphans of the Dirty War
- Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children
- Basavis (under Devadasi)
- Bhayats (under India - Princely States)
- Bogams (under Devadasi)
- Canadian Native Children
- Captives
- Child Migrants
- Chinese Qing Dynasty
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Dalai Lamas
- Devadasi
- Dinka People (under Captives)
- Doctrine of Lapse (under India - Princely States)
- Feral Children
- Foundlings
- German Democratic Republic
- God's Wife
- Hawai'ian Royal Families
- Honorific Adoption
- Janissaries
- Jogatis (under Devadasi)
- Kinder der Landstraße
- Kindertransport
- Kiribati
- Manus
- Muralis (under Devadasi)
- Natis (under Devadasi)
- Native American and Alaskan Native Children
- Nazi Germany
- Norwegian Ruling Families
- Oblates
- Orphan Trains of the USA
- Rat-Children of Shah Daula
- Restavecs
- Roman Empire
- Shakers
- Shoah
- Slaves
- Thevardiyar (under Devadasi)
- Transportees
- Trokosi
- Verdingkinder
Child Migrants
These are the children sent from Britain and Ireland to colonies and former colonies with the express intention of helping to culturally swamp the native peoples by increasing the white pop... [more]
Chinese Qing Dynasty
For nearly 200 years the Qing dynasty practiced a form of adoption to secure orderly succession to the throne when the emperor was childless. It was instituted by the Yong Zheng Empero... [more]
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) practiced a form of ritual adoption from about 1842 to 1894. It is apparently first referred to in an article in The Latter-day... [more]
Dalai Lamas
The Dalai Lamas - supreme heads of Tibetan Buddhism and also the secular rulers of Tibet before the Chinese invasion - as well as some other important leaders of the religion (such as the P... [more]
Devadasi
Devadasi (mainly of Maharashtra and Karnataka states) and related practices ( Maharis in Kerala, Natis in Assam, Muralis in Maharashtra, Bogams in Andhra Pradesh, Jogatis and Basa... [more]
Dinka People (under Captives)
The capture of children and adults in war and by raiding parties was and still is a fairly common practice. They were occasionally intended as food, sometimes used as hostages, more often a... [more]
Doctrine of Lapse (under India - Princely States)
Until the 19th century what is now India (like Europe) was a patchwork of over 650 princely states, like kingdoms, ranging from the small and relatively unimportant, to the large, immensely... [more]
Feral Children
These are children, almost always babies, who are taken and raised by wild animals. Occasionally they find their way back to society. They may be carried off from their villages by females ... [more]
Foundlings
Foundlings are children abandoned, almost always by their mothers, soon after birth. There is rarely any intention that the child should die, but the mother is usually in such a mental stat... [more]
German Democratic Republic
During these decades, under the direction of Margot Honecker, wife of Communist Party and government head Erich Honecker and minister of education, the authorities in the GDR (the former Ea... [more]
