Catholic "Baby Trains"
The New York Foundling Hospital was established in 1869 by the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul to help unwed mothers put them up for adoption in Catholic homes. Often the mothers simply abandoned newborns in a special basket at the door of the hospital and rang a special bell, then disappeared. There was fear that Children's Aid Society would place the babies in Protestant homes. By 1870 infant mortality had fallen sharply, producing a surplus of healthy children aged 2-4 in need of families. Catholic orphanages in the city were expensive and designed for older children who had families that could not afford to care for them. There was a strong demand from farmers who could not have children of their own, so the Foundling Hospital set up "baby trains" to take as many as a thousand children a year west to Catholic farm families recommended by local priests. If there was problem the Foundling Hospital sent out agents to move the child to a better family. The program lasted until the 1920s, when policy shifted to using orphanages and foster homes in New York.
Read more about this topic: Orphan Train
Famous quotes containing the words catholic, baby and/or trains:
“Through my fault, my most grievous fault.
[Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.]”
—Missal, The. The Ordinary of the Mass.
Missal is book of prayers and rites used to celebrate the Roman Catholic mass during the year.
“Nothing ever prepares a couple for having a baby, especially the first one. And even baby number two or three, the surprises and challenges, the cosmic curve balls, keep on coming. We can’t believe how much children change everything—the time we rise and the time we go to bed; the way we fight and the way we get along. Even when, and if, we make love.”
—Susan Lapinski (20th century)
“Ever notice how these European trains always smell of eau de cologne and hard boiled eggs?”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)