I would say it was unusual for the father's family to take the child. The scenarios I've come across usually involve the child staying with the mother or going to a third party. The Holroyds seem to have an obligation to this child why else adopt a child born in Liverpool and bring him over to The Isle of Man? If one of the Holroyds was already obliged to support the child then that may have resulted in James and Charlotte stepping in to make it easier for both father and mother to go their separate ways and set up new families. It was not unusual for young children to appear with older families. Children would stay with grandparents, mothers died young and other relations stepped in, lots of children were taken in for various reasons.