The Elements of Child-protection by Sigmund Engel

Author:Sigmund Engel [Engel, Sigmund]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781330200858
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 26914602
Publisher: Fb&c Ltd
Published: 2015-09-27T00:00:00+00:00

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CHAPTER III

THE CARE OF FOUNDLINGS, WET-NURSING, AND BABY-FARMING

Terminology.—In this work, when we speak of “the care of foundlings,” the term is used throughout in the widest signification, to denote the general care of the children boarded out, or otherwise placed in external care by the Poor Law Boards or other administrative instruments of poor-relief. Thus we do not refer to the care of all abandoned children, nor even to the care of all foundlings, but merely to the care of children permanently and completely abandoned by their relatives. It is necessary to lay this great stress upon the accurate definition of the term, for the reason that in Germany and in England the systems by which the community undertakes the care of foundlings is fiercely attacked; but the opponents of the institution are attacking something very different from what many of them imagine. To-day the care of abandoned children, and institutions for the care of these children, are altogether different from the foundling hospitals of former times; abandoned children are cared for by the community, not only in countries in which foundling hospitals exist, but also in Germany and England, for in these latter countries, the so-called Germanic system for the care of abandoned children, though there not spoken of as “care for foundlings,” amounts to the same thing.

History of the Care of Foundlings.—For two reasons it is necessary that we should deal with the history of the care of foundlings. In the first place, it is a branch of child-protection which is rightly considered to be of great importance, and yet in regard to this branch the most erroneous views prevail alike among laymen and non-laymen. In the second place, the care of foundlings to-day cannot possibly be understood by those who know nothing of the history of the institution. Even during the time at which infanticide and the exposing of children were still legally permissible among the Romans, these practices were condemned by public opinion, especially when the excuse of great poverty was lacking, and they were regarded as a misuse of parental authority. This applies even more to infanticide than to the exposing of children; for in the case of the latter, it was always possible that the child would be rescued and brought up by a third person. The Church naturally regarded both infanticide and the exposing of children as immoral and sinful. But what could the Church do to prevent infanticide? Infanticide was largely a result of the fact that the Church and public opinion strongly condemned illegitimate sexual relationships; in actual fact, infanticide was usually the act of an unmarried mother. The only course open to the Church, if it wished to prevent infanticide, was to tolerate the exposure of children, and to take steps to ensure that the children thus exposed should not perish. The Church permitted the lesser evil in order to prevent the greater. According to some authorities, the priests even publicly exhorted fallen women to expose their children at the church doors.

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