Adoption can be based on a verbal agreement or a bubuti, a request that cannot be turned down. If a couple cannot have children or desire more, they can adopt one from a relative by making a bubuti. The bubuti custom also provides social support for people, since it gives the opportunity to request both items and services. Large families are highly valued, this is partly because most people are dependent on subsistence agriculture . Women are responsible for housework, cooking, and childcare, but some women also help men take care of the babai pits and collect coconuts.
Women catch shellfish and go net fishing, but usually only men fish from canoes and boats.
The oldest man heads the household, and the elderly are treated with great respect. With land inheritance traditionally divided between a family s children, family plots are becoming increasingly smaller and the government is encouraging people to have fewer children. In many families, children now share the land rather than dividing it. Most I-Kiribati live modestly and are resourceful. This is evident in the way that they use every part of the coconut tree.