From Indenture to Family Foster Care: A Brief History of Child Placing

Abstract

In colonial America, children from all classes were indentured into new homes to learn a trade. Between 1800 and 1850, orphan asylums became a widespread way of caring for children from impoverished families; at the same time, changing conceptions of childhood helped narrow the use of indenture to children from very poor families. In the 1850s, a variation on indenture, placing-out, began moving children from poor urban families to rural homes. Unlike indenture, placing-out was based on an anti-urban, anti-immigrant ideology. Between 1900 and 1930, the gradual professionalization of social work went hand in hand with increased government involvement in child welfare to cause a shift toward the boarding-out system and away from institutional care of children. This boarding-out system gradually evolved into the modem family foster care system as government became increasingly involved in the welfare of children. The legislature was trying to save money by shifting away from asylum care, and boarding-out was far more expensive than placing-out.

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