Short answers, pulled from the story.
Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring in an illegal way with the intent of never resuming guardianship. An abandoned child is referred to as a foundling which distinguishes them from runaways or orphans.
Laws passed in US in 1999 adopted subsequently by Canada Japan France and Slovakia allow parents to abandon newborn children at local authority places like hospitals fire stations or police stations without further questioning. As of 2017, 3,317 babies surrendered via these mechanisms nationwide.
People living in countries with poor social welfare systems like China Myanmar Mexico and the United States lack resources to care for additional offspring. Teenage pregnancy religious differences and identifying as LGBT frequently trigger disownment processes while political instability forces parents into desperate choices.
Over three decades hundreds of thousands of children majority girls were abandoned requiring caretaking assistance after China introduced its one-child policy in 1979 setting penalties for families having more than one child. Non-governmental organizations stepped in re-housing girls leading to international adoption exceeding 120,000 Chinese children.
Survivors of child abandonment face severe long-term mental health consequences including attachment disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder. Abandonment issues characterize abandoned child syndrome with symptoms like social alienation clinginess insomnia nightmares eating disorders anger issues depression substance abuse and traumatic reenactment through romantic relationships.