Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 10/03/2009 - 03:57.
As the Foundling Hospital Model gained acceptance, however, more formal rules were created for placement of children into families: boys were usually apprenticed to an artisan and girls were married off under institutional authority. Hospitals continued to informally adopt out children as well, a mechanism regarded as a means to obtain cheap labor, demonstrated by the fact that when the adopted died, their bodies were returned by the family to the institution for burial. The system of apprenticeship and informal adoption extended into the 19th century, today seen as a transitional phase for adoption history. Under the direction of social welfare activists, orphan asylums began to promote adoptions based on sentiment rather than work and children were placed out under agreements to provide care for them as family members instead of under contracts for apprenticeship.
As the Foundling Hospital
As the Foundling Hospital Model gained acceptance, however, more formal rules were created for placement of children into families: boys were usually apprenticed to an artisan and girls were married off under institutional authority. Hospitals continued to informally adopt out children as well, a mechanism regarded as a means to obtain cheap labor, demonstrated by the fact that when the adopted died, their bodies were returned by the family to the institution for burial. The system of apprenticeship and informal adoption extended into the 19th century, today seen as a transitional phase for adoption history. Under the direction of social welfare activists, orphan asylums began to promote adoptions based on sentiment rather than work and children were placed out under agreements to provide care for them as family members instead of under contracts for apprenticeship.