I think this is fairly common in the Phil's due to the stigma of unmarried mums and lack of any welfare support or CSA demanding that absent fathers pay their dues. I'm not sure how good it is for the long term emotional well being of the child though I used to know a Pinay who had a traumatic upbringing herself and then did the same to her own kids. Her mum abandoned her with her grandma when she was two years old, and she spent the next 16 years being pushed from relative to relative across Leyte and Metro Manila, before getting pregnant herself at the age of 19 and then running away from home to Boracay. The baby eventually ended up being adopted by her Aunt in Manila. She got pregnant again a couple of years later and agreed to give the baby to a childless couple in Boracay if they fed and housed her during her pregnancy. Eventually she left Boracay and hasn't seen the 2nd baby for about 4 years. She does see the first baby (not actually a baby now, she's about 6 yrs old) for a few weeks every 6 months or so. The girl I knew was really screwed up by her upbringing and subsequent abandoning of her own kids. I still chat to her occasionally, but she is very angry and emotionally disturbed. She did eventually make contact with her own mum when she was about 24 yrs old. Her mum's living in Malaysia now, and not surprisingly the girl doesn't really want to have anything to do with her. Not a great life really I can only count myself as very fortunate that I had a fairly conventional upbringing with loving parents, and that I am doing my best to spend as much time as I can with my own kids and tell them and show them that I love them numerous times each day.