Orphan Train - Catholic "Baby Trains"

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.