Uhhh... Does anyone else have this happen??

It seems like every campaign I'm in, my players (myself included, when I'm playing) seem to adopt a small child. Just. Out of the blue. The DM has to hurriedly make an NPC and they just make a child and boom, child gets adopted. Is this common????? Do people just casually adopt a child every so often???? Because it's happened at least three times.

No, I can't say it happens in my games but I think I can understand why you see it as a frequent trope. As a people, we naturally want to protect children, keep them safe. As a plot device, children build emotional stakes and can be a tool to drive investment in the story and the world.

I have never once even heard about adopting a child, let alone be in a game with one.

Um, no. I don't think that has ever happened in any of my games.

My players have adopted, however:

• A Kobold named Larry
• An empathy cat
• A blink-dog puppy
• An ice mephit trapped in a Bag of Colding

In campaigns I have played in, we adopted:

• An Awakened Shrub that produces Goodberries
• A mummy
• A blind giant penguin
• A fox and baboon made of blood
• A soon-to-hatch dragon egg

Never in my 48 years of playing has this happened in my groups.  The DM has occasionally foisted off some NPC on us but we’ve never had a player do it spontaneously.