I don’t know how hard adoption paperwork is here to be honest!
However culturally, I find we have a somewhat of an aversion to getting lawyers or filling out official forms, or waiting. I’m not sure why this is, but it might tie in to old-fashioned ideas about pride, honor, and respect. So a lot of things have ‘no paperwork’, and when it finally needs to be sorted out, tempers flare and you’ve got a blood feud on your hands.